Hi, its more for blog post but Im not blogging so maybe share here :) . Looks like we hit (in 10.2.0.3 env) : *DBMS_SERVER_ALERT.SET_THRESHOLD HANGS FOREVER AT RELIABLE MESSAGE [ID 794589.1] looks not bad (relaible message is idle wait right ?) but when I've tried to deal with hanging processes via kill -9 processes are no longer on os pid lists but from Oracle point of view we still got sessions for that ospids and PMON is unable to proper clear that session . From PMON trace: **** 2011-11-25 13:44:35.047 found process 0x25f5f8bd0 pid=40 serial=2 ospid = 15291 dead found process 0x25f5f93b8 pid=42 serial=1 ospid = 30345 dead *** 2011-11-25 13:44:45.060 found process 0x25f5f8bd0 pid=40 serial=2 ospid = 15291 dead found process 0x25f5f93b8 pid=42 serial=1 ospid = 30345 dead *** 2011-11-25 13:44:47.064 found process 0x25f5f8bd0 pid=40 serial=2 ospid = 15291 dead found process 0x25f5f93b8 pid=42 serial=1 ospid = 30345 dead in alert log PMON is unable to clean up process bla bla . After restarting EM grid agents there are two new hanging processes on dbms_server_alert.set_threshold still reliable message . When You strace that proces You can see strace -p 30540 Process 30540 attached - interrupt to quit semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) getrusage(RUSAGE_SELF, {ru_utime={0, 352946}, ru_stime={0, 95985}, ...}) = 0 getrusage(RUSAGE_SELF, {ru_utime={0, 352946}, ru_stime={0, 95985}, ...}) = 0 semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) semtimedop(819218, 0x7fbfff7270, 1, {1, 0}) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource temporarily unavailable) so its timeout on semaphore set operation call . There is SR open but Oracle not responded so far . Dont want to be so dramatic but Im sure shutdown immediate will not help here :) . Any ideas how to deal with session hanging on that event (reliable message ) ? Regards GregG -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l