Date:         Fri, 21 May 1999 11:28:06 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve Macaulay <smacaulay@INFINTIUM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Macaulay <smacaulay@INFINTIUM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Gerry is ill - suggestions for a server upgrade
In-Reply-To:  <000501bea3b8$e9593480$2600a8c0@leif-p.>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I'm sure a faster server with more memory and disks would help, but if Gerry
was set up to reboot itself once a week, we may find that the memory leak
problems that eventually cause Gerry to stop functioning properly go away
since the "leaked" memory would be reclaimed during the reboot process.  I'm
not sure how to do this on an NT environment, but it's probably not to
difficult.  If it is, perhaps just a manual reboot once every week or two by
the server administrator would help.  While it may seem like it is to us,
the vanagon mailing list is not a "mission-critical" application that must
never go down.  A five minute reboot once a week to reclaim memory would
probably go unnoticed by all but the most diehard list lurker.

"Reboot first, ask questions later" and "when in doubt, reboot" are two
rules that have worked well for me in the past on other non-mission-critical
systems.  Rebooting is not a permanent fix for a memory leak-related
problem, but it makes a pretty good bandaid because it "nips it in the bud"
before it can become a problem.  Plus it doesn't cost anything other than
the time to do it.

My 2 cents,

Steve

89 Westy