The kernel OOM killer shot our observability agent instead of the worker that ate the memory. How does it pick victims?

The kill was not random and it was not fair. Learn the scoring function the kernel actually uses, then bend it with oom_score_adj before your monitoring dies during the next leak.

Updated Sep 2026 · Grounded in researched DevOps, SRE and platform engineering interview loops, written to a senior-engineer editorial bar, and never padded to hit a word count.

The kill was not random and it was not fair. Learn the scoring function the kernel actually uses, then bend it with oom_score_adj before your monitoring dies during the next leak.

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