Apache Error - Parent: child process exited with status 128 -- Restarting.

[davesplat]

We run a fairly busy Apache web server with a bunch of PHP code that our group created.  Our environment consists of Apache 2.2.8, PHP 5.2.3, mySql 4.0.23, and Windows Server 2003.  For months now we've been getting an Apache restart about 10-20 times a day.  The error log always contains something similar to the following:

 

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:32 2008] [notice] Child 3988: Listening on port 80.

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:32 2008] [notice] Child 3988: Listening on port 443.

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:32 2008] [notice] Child 3988: Starting 64 worker threads.

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:32 2008] [notice] Child 3988: Acquired the start mutex.

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:32 2008] [notice] Child 3988: Child process is running

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:31 2008] [notice] Disabled use of AcceptEx() WinSock2 API

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:31 2008] [notice] Parent: Created child process 3988

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:31 2008] [notice] Server built: Jan 18 2008 00:37:19

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:31 2008] [notice] Apache/2.2.8 (Win32) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8g PHP/5.2.3 configured -- resuming normal operations

[Wed Sep 17 04:35:30 2008] [notice] Parent: child process exited with status 128 -- Restarting.

 

There are no other errors prior to this one that are relevant.  The access log doesn't show any particular pattern leading up to this error.  However, we routinely process many SOAP calls and so often we'll see a string of just the following page hit:

 

88.64.130.221 - - [15/Sep/2008:19:03:28 -0400] "POST /ws/UpgradeTests.php HTTP/1.1" 200 567

83.156.13.2 - - [15/Sep/2008:19:03:30 -0400] "POST /ws/UpgradeTests.php HTTP/1.1" 200 567

192.149.109.214 - - [15/Sep/2008:19:03:30 -0400] "POST /ws/UpgradeTests.php HTTP/1.1" 200 567

82.26.193.153 - - [15/Sep/2008:19:03:31 -0400] "POST /ws/UpgradeTests.php HTTP/1.1" 200 567

 

I've run a load test of just this one page/soap call and have been able to call it thousands of times without causing the error in a repeatable fashion.  I'm now stumped.

 

Questions:

 

(1) What other debugging tools exist that I might try and use to diagnose this problem?

(2) How concerned should I be about the restart?  Do many sites see this kind of problem?

 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dave