[lugip] losing memory

[Thomas Pfau]

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately, this thing doesn't have 'top' on 
it and the 'ps' only shows pid, uid, vmsize, stat and command.  I think 
the best I'll be able to do is monitor things in /proc.  Here's 
/proc/cpuinfo and /proc/meminfo:

processor               : 0
cpu model               : MIPS 4KEc V4.8
BogoMIPS                : 211.35
wait instruction        : no
microsecond timers      : yes
extra interrupt vector  : yes
hardware watchpoint     : yes
VCED exceptions         : not available
VCEI exceptions         : not available

        total:    used:    free:  shared: buffers:  cached:
Mem:  14655488 13946880   708608        0  1191936  2568192
Swap:        0        0        0
MemTotal:        14312 kB
MemFree:           692 kB
MemShared:           0 kB
Buffers:          1164 kB
Cached:           2508 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:           3560 kB
Inactive:         1712 kB
HighTotal:           0 kB
HighFree:            0 kB
LowTotal:        14312 kB
LowFree:           692 kB
SwapTotal:           0 kB
SwapFree:            0 kB

Rod Nayfield wrote:
>
> the vmsize (aka VIRT or VSZ) for a process shows its address space, 
> not resident pages.  Memory pages in linux are allocated on-demand.  
> (for example, if you malloc() you will grow the vsz of the process - 
> but you won't take any resident pages until you access them).
>
> You probably want to watch resident size to find a memory leak in a 
> process ... the easiest way would be to start top and sort by %MEM 
> (e.g. hit ">" once)
>
> If that doesn't help, take a step back and cat /proc/meminfo every 5 
> minutes to a file so you can see what pages are actually taking up 
> space (e.g. confirm that they are anonymous pages, make sure that 
> you're not running out of lowmem (if it's 32 bit kernel))
>
> -rod
>
>
>
> On Sep 13, 2008, at 10:35 PM, Thomas Pfau wrote:
>
>> I have an Actiontec DSL modem that likes to hang after 6-8 hours of
>> use.  I have been trying to debug what's causing this and think it might
>> be running out of memory.  The device runs linux with busybox.  I can
>> telnet to it and it has a few command line utilities so I can find out
>> what's going on to some extent.
>>
>> What I've seen while watching it today is that 'free' will report less
>> free memory as time goes on.  The buffer count stays the same until free
>> memory gets real low then the system takes buffers to get free RAM.
>> From the rate it was disappearing, I have a feeling that after 6-8
>> hours, all of the memory is consumed and that's why it's hanging.
>>
>> I can't figure out where the memory is going, though.  Vmsize reported
>> by ps remains constant for all processes.
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas where else I could look to find out what's
>> consuming all the RAM on this device?
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lugip mailing list
>> Lugip at lugip.org
>> http://www.lugip.org/mailman/listinfo/lugip
>>
>> LUG/IP Hardware Sig meets first Tuesday of the month at the Hamilton 
>> Public Library at 7pm
>>
>> LUG/IP meets Second Wednesday of the month at the Lawrence 
>> Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library at 7pm
>>
>> LUG/IP Coffee Klatch meets on the fourth Sunday of the month at the 
>> Panera Bread in West Windsor near Target at 8am
>>
>> For more information go to http://www.lugip.org
>