cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
1340
Views
0
Helpful
3
Replies

Urgent help needed "InsufficientFreeMemory" in DFM for Modular IOS

cbeswick
Level 1
Level 1

Hi All,

Cisco Works LMS 2.6 DFM 2.0.10 is reporting the above message on a 6509 Server Farm switch that uses a Sup 720 with Modular IOS 12.(18)SXF7.

Now I know that this code is badly bugged and I have a change scheduled for next week to revert back to a safe harbour release of standard IOS (non modular).

However I am very concerned about DFM reporting this message. I have looked at the switch and a "show memory" doesn't report any problem:

System Memory: 524288K total, 294084K used, 230204K free, 1000K kernel reserved

Lowest(b) : 235171840

Howver, looking through the notes for DFM 2.0.10 I read the following :

An ION switch is an IOS running on a new type of processor. The

memory allocation is different. The "show memory" on an ION switch

does not show the real memory usage. However, DFM is using the MIB

to poll the exact info of "show memory" and report with the

"Insufficient Memory" event.

When the available memory space went below the threshold level, now

the "InsufficientFreeMemory" alert is seen in AAD.

So am I to take it that a "show memory" on a switch running modular IOS doesn't provide you with accurate information ?

If this is the case, what are the ramifications of this issue and should I bring the IOS change forward ?

3 Replies 3

Joe Clarke
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Modular IOS has new memory pools: POSIX pools. These pools are used for the new UNIX-like processes that run within the ION OS. I do not have immediate access to a modular switch, so I cannot tell you for certain how you can view these pools via CLI. However, in all cases I have seen with DFM analyzing these pools, DFM has been correct if not a bit overcautious in reporting the low memory.

If you're not experiencing a problem on the switch, you could increase the threshold within DFM.

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

I received the following from our 3rd party support group:

CSCsi10953 Bug Details DFM need way to show Insufficient Memory correctly for Modular IOS Switc

Symptom:

The "show memory" on the new module IOS switch does not show the real memory usage. DFM is using the MIB to poll the exact info of "show memory" and report with the "Insufficient Memory" event.

To display memory correctly, the command "show process memory detailed" is required.

By SNMP, the 'show memory' output is retrieved by using these OIDs ciscoMemoryPoolValid, ciscoMemoryPoolUsed, and ciscoMemoryPoolFree. The total memory is always way smaller than the 'show process memory detailed'.

Using the OID cempMemPoolName from the MIB CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB will generate the right result.

DFM will need to start looking into this change. New document or release note is needed for this if a new change is not happening soon.

Workaround:

Set the threshold to the low value to prevent the event from generated.

This bug is fixed in 2.0.10, and DFM IS looking at the ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB. The problem is with the POSIX pools typically reporting a low amount of free memory.

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Innovations in Cisco Full Stack Observability - A new webinar from Cisco