Forcing OOM Killer
We run a research server and every user has a quite generous memory quota. Because of this at times, users start concurrent applications that consume the entire RAM of the server making it impossible to login remotely. 

1) I cannot limit the user memory any further or impose cpu minute limits nor can i reduce the number of logins per user, etc.

2) I cannot make users respect the fact that resources are scarce and that they should coordinate their server usage .... 

Basically i need a reactive rather than preventive solution ...

With this in mind, is there a way to force the OOM killer to, upon a remote signal, kill whatever processes it needs to in order to free memory when the level of "trashing" of the server is so great that it is impossible to work or even login remotely ?

This would have to be done remotely and since ssh does not even grant a login prompt i am clueless on what to do. Is "physical reset" my only option ?

Thanks for any help,
Miguel

Forcing OOM Killer
===

We run a research server and every user has a quite generous memory quota. Because of this at times, users start concurrent applications that consume the entire RAM of the server making it impossible to login remotely. 

1) I cannot limit the user memory any further or impose cpu minute limits nor can i reduce the number of logins per user, etc.

2) I cannot make users respect the fact that resources are scarce and that they should coordinate their server usage .... 

Basically i need a reactive rather than preventive solution ...

With this in mind, is there a way to force the OOM killer to, upon a remote signal, kill whatever processes it needs to in order to free memory when the level of "trashing" of the server is so great that it is impossible to work or even login remotely ?

This would have to be done remotely and since ssh does not even grant a login prompt i am clueless on what to do. Is "physical reset" my only option ?

Thanks for any help,
Miguel
