beq processes preventing shutdown

Our sysadmin tells me he's been experiencing problems sometimes, when trying to shutdown an Oracle 8.1.7 instance on a Solaris 64-bit environment. The shutdown "hangs up", and he can see processes like the following:

oraclePROD (DESCRIPTION=(LOCAL=YES)(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=beq)))

>From searching around, I've been able to ascertain that these "beq"
processes are probably created by the listener in response to connect requests, but beyond that, I'm stumped!

All I've been able to advise is that he replace his "shutdown immediate" with a 3-step "shutdown abort / startup restrict / shutdown immediate" sequence, which should prevent being hung up by any "beq processes", but I'd rather feel I'd solved the problem, rather than merely sidestepping it!

Any ideas what may be causing this, and what the remedy might be?

Regards,

Paul Vincent
DBA
University of Central England

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Author: Paul Vincent
  INET: Paul.Vincent_at_uce.ac.uk

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