Please interpret this "top" result...

[nhouse]

Hi Again Everyone...
I am trying to learn as much as possible about Linux command line stuff... I love it but one question seems to lead to two more. I ran a top command to check out the processes and it looks like something is out of line to me... please comment on this if you would be so kind. Click on the link below to see a screen cap of what I am talking about. It looks like a process called "ripmime" by popuser is going nuts. It has been going for a while now... what is this? Should it die on its own... or should I kill it?

screen cap

Thanks!!!

 

[phoenixisp]

From what I understand ripmime is used to extract attached files from an email. If that's been going on for a while I'd say kill it (them) for they are the 'zombie' processes running.

 

[nhouse]

Ahhhhhhh... so it could have been simply a BIG attachment passing through? Now to figure out why it took so long. It went away by itself... but took at least 30 minutes, I'd say.

 

[jshanley]

I'd imagine you've installed the Qmail-Scanner addon for Qmail? If so, make sure you set the maximum size of attachment that you're willing to scan. I would imagine that files over 5mb or so are far less likely to contain viruses, and it'll save a lot of memory & processing time if you skip them.

Then again, the extra CPU & memory usage might be worth it to you if you want to scan everything. Up to you really. But yeah, ripmime is used by various products like decode MIME email & attachments. Qmail-Scanner uses it, and I think MailScanner for Qmail also uses it. Make sure your copy of ripmime is up to date, btw.

 

[nhouse]

Hey... thanks for adding to my discussion. I didn't really understand what was happening... but are you saying that maybe the anti-virus scanner might use this? If so, that would be great advice on the file size. I use 4PSA Clean Server (f-prot) and initially have had it set to ignore files size... I also allow pretty BIG attachments because some of my clients are architects / engineers and have to send big files at times. Considering what you said, I have set my virus scanner to only scan files up to 10 mb... this may help with CPU load.

Thanks Again!!!