My machine keeps starting processes with command "java" (listed under "command" column in top), that proceed to eat up all my resources for a few seconds, then disapear, a few seconds later a new one will start, with a different PID.
I want to know what is starting these java processes.
I got some information from doing top -> c which shows the java process full command:
11470 neil 20 0 4616088 2.134g 19156 S 121.9 57.1 0:04.20 /opt/jdk-11.0.1/bin/java -Xms1g -Xmx1g -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFr+
However, this does not mean anything to me. Don't know if it helps.
Other answers and things I have already tried:
I have seen this answer How can I find the origin of a process and stop it permanently? which mentions finding the proc/PID directory. Several other similar questions give this advice. But this doesn't help me since the PID keeps changing.
I have tried ps aux | grep java
but this only shows grep itself:
neil~$ ps aux | grep java
neil 8539 0.0 0.0 14224 928 pts/19 S+ 22:20 0:00 grep --color=auto java
I have tried killall java
And this does kill the current PID but then in a few seconds the next one starts...
I originally thought that this was due to me installing Cisco AnyConnect (see Help uninstalling 3rd party software). The reasons why I assumed this are that a) The problem started when I installed AnyConnect and b) When I was able to kill a java process before it disappeared, the only affected program I could see was AnyConnect, which stopped rendering most of the UI. Now I am not sure, because I uninstalled AnyConnect and the problem remains.