Solved: 4506 weekly problem

iti-smucisco · ‎03-06-2009

I have a problem with my networks Catalyst 4506 (IOS version 12.2(25)EWA7) each week. Every week more or less on the same day I lose network connectivity to some VLAN's. At the same time I can no longer telnet to the device. Connecting via the console I receive various errors such as %% Low on memory; try again later or %SYS-2-MALLOCFAIL. Rebooting the 4506 fixes the problem. Reloading it anytime on the day the problem usually occurs, before it occurs fixes the problem for that week!

I'm not sure what is causing this problem or how to track down its cause, Any help with be greatly appreciated.

Giuseppe Larosa · ‎03-06-2009

Hello Smu,

there is probably a software bug that causes some process to eat memory over time:

the fact that if you reload it before the critical point it will stay up for another week is meaningful

memory leakage is the right term for this behaviour

I would think of an IOS upgrade

Hope to gelp

Giuseppe

View solution in original post

Giuseppe Larosa · ‎03-06-2009

Hello Smu,

there is probably a software bug that causes some process to eat memory over time:

the fact that if you reload it before the critical point it will stay up for another week is meaningful

memory leakage is the right term for this behaviour

I would think of an IOS upgrade

Hope to gelp

Giuseppe

gnijs · ‎03-06-2009

Monitor the free memory to see if it gradually decreases and if so, note the process. of course, this takes time. you can also upgrade to the latest and hope it is fixed.

some usefull commands:

(assuming it is ios)

sh mem stat

sh mem statistics history

Head Total(b) Used(b) Free(b) Lowest(b) Largest(b)

Processor 1F47E7C 89137540 28884536 60253004 57193772 57612272

I/O 7400000 12574720 9758576 2816144 2527736 2566064

note the free (bytes), see if it decreases.

Compare that to the size of total memory. how much is still free in % ?

iti-smucisco · ‎03-07-2009

Thanks giuslar and gnijs for the reply. I'll see if I can upgrade the IOS then. I'll also keep an eye on the free memory over the next week.