HP OpenVMS Systems

Resolving Mutex Hangs?

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The Question is:

 
Could I kill suspended processes which state is "MUTEX"?
If so, Could you tell me how to kill them?
 
 

The Answer is :

 
  Processes that are locked in mutual exclusion states can not generally
  be directly deleted via $delprc or STOP/ID -- these processes can be
  deadlocked against a process quota limit, or can have encountered a
  kernel-mode application or system problem.
 
  DECamds -- an optionally-installaed package shipped with OpenVMS -- can
  sometimes be used to clear the problem that is causing the process to
  deadlock.  DECamds is particularly good at resolving quota limitations.
 
  There are, however, cases where only an OpenVMS system reboot can clear
  the immediate (wedged) process.  Permanently resolving these (non-quota)
  cases requires determining the exact cause (lost I/O packet, leaking
  quotas, device driver bugs, etc), and resolving it in the underlying
  kernel-mode code.
 
  In the process PCB, one can look at the EFWM cell to determine why the
  process is wedged -- one can find the address of the JIB in the EFWM cell
  indicating a pooled quota limitation, or one can find a resource number
  from RSNDEF in this cell.  Using the information in the Internals and
  Data Structures Manual (from Digital Press, http://www.bh.com/), one can
  often determine what the cause of the MUTEX is, and one can then resolve
  it in local kernel-mode application code, or in local process quotas.
  Errors in OpenVMS or in third-party packages will require the assistance
  of the appropriate product support organization.
 
  Related topics here in Ask The Wizard include (6), (2347), (5841),
  and (7120).
 

  

     

     
answer written or last revised on ( 3-OCT-2001 )
     
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