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PostgreSQL 10.3 leaving "exiting" (defunct) processes on AIX platform

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Curious to know if anyone else has experienced this issue before.

I have a Postgresql 10.3 database on AIX 7.1 platform and this usually does not give us any problems. But after a recent install on a server that's handling about 275 users, we suddenly started seeing "exiting" processes from every call to open the database.

Now when the problem first starts, the exiting processes disappear after a few seconds. This is normal. But the busier the system gets, the longer it takes for them to disappear until it could be stuck there for hours. And the problem is that these exiting processes appear to still use up one or more of the max_connections, leading to a situation where we run out of connections.


Here's an example of what I'm referring to:

# ps -ef |grep exiting |wc -l
    6250

# ps -ef |grep exiting |tail -5
       - 33818386        -   -                     - <exiting>
       - 33949478        -   -                     - <exiting>
       - 34015016        -   -                     - <exiting>
       - 34080578        -   -                     - <exiting>
       - 34211634        -   -                     - <exiting>

# proctree 33818386
4653070    /apps/pg_10.3/bin/postgres
   33818386    <defunct>


According to IBM AIX documentation, the exiting/defunct process will wait until the parent PID replies that it no longer needs the exit status of the subprocess. And so it looks like PostgreSQL may not be sending that reply, or is somehow delayed.

Has anyone else experienced a similar issue? I'm wondering if I need to update my O/S which is already at a pretty current level, or perhaps arrange to update the Postgres database to 10.6 or higher. 

I guess my question: Is this potentially a bug in Postgres and how it releases processes?

Thx

Steve N.

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PostgreSQL 10.3 leaving "exiting" (defunct) processes on AIX platform inverasln@gmail.com - 2019-03-18 13:28 -0700
  Re: PostgreSQL 10.3 leaving "exiting" (defunct) processes on AIX platform Laurenz Albe <laurenz@nospam.pn> - 2019-03-18 23:05 +0000
    Re: PostgreSQL 10.3 leaving "exiting" (defunct) processes on AIX platform inverasln@gmail.com - 2019-03-20 10:53 -0700
      Re: PostgreSQL 10.3 leaving "exiting" (defunct) processes on AIX platform Laurenz Albe <laurenz@nospam.pn> - 2019-03-20 18:24 +0000

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