One of my apache processes is huge - how can I find out why?
- by Malcolm Box
I'm running Apache 2.2.12 with mod_wsgi, hosting a Django site. Most of the apache child processes weigh in at about 125MB RSS, but occasionally I see one child balloon to 1GB RSS.
At this point there's usually 1 huge process (1GB), a couple of large ones (500MB) and the rest are still ~125MB. These are the mod_wsgi daemon processes.
I've tried using memory leak tracing in Python to see if it's the Django code, and I see no leaks. Looking in the logs doesn't show any particularly strange requests.
I'm stumped on how to figure out what's causing this - any ideas? Also, any workaround ways to kill the large apache process when it gets too big, without bringing apache down?
Some more details:
Not using mod_php
Using pre-fork