[users@httpd] Defunct CGI processes

[Marple Huckleby <marple.huckleby@xxxxxxxxx>]

  I have a number of front-end web servers, which mount their
DocumentRoot directory from an NFS server.  Several versions ago,
I began seeing defunct Perl processes (not mod_perl).  I waited
and upgraded with each new release, but the problem has not gone away.

  These servers run a relatively ancient version of Linux, so I
decided to try something a bit more modern in hopes that it would fix
the problem, so I tried Fedora Core 4, compiling and installing Apache
by hand.  The problem actually became much, MUCH worse - the # of
defunct processes built up steadily and quickly, and after
approximately an hour, the NFS server crashed.  The NFS server
(running Fedora Core 2) had been running without incident (or reboot)
for quite some time, about a year if I recall correctly.

  If anyone could point me in the right direction for resolving
this issue, I would be very grateful.  The configure options used
are:

--prefix=/etc/httpd --enable-module=usertrack --enable-module=expires
--enable-suexec --suexec-caller=www --suexec-docroot=/webdata
--suexec-userdir=/webdata --enable-module=rewrite

M. Huck