Core Issue
Cisco IOS Software Inter-Process Communications (IPC) services serve as the means by which Line Cards (LCs) and the central Route Processor (RP) in a distributed system communicate with each other. This is done by exchanging IPC messages sent from the RP to the LCs, and also between active and standby RPs. These messages include configuration commands and responses to those commands, as well as events that need to be reported by an LC to the RP.
The Cisco 12000, 10000, 7600, and 7500 series routers use a distributed architecture based on IPC messages. Under rare conditions, these routers may report the following IPC-related log messages:
- Cisco 12000 series router - %IPC-3-NOBUFF: The main IPC message header cache has emptied
- Cisco 7500 series router - %IPC_RSP_CBUS-3-NOBUF: No more IPC memd buffers to transmit IPC message
Resolution
For information on troubleshooting this error message, refer to Troubleshooting IPC-3-NOBUFF Messages on Cisco 12000, 10000, 7600, and 7500 Series Routers.