[lugip] losing memory

[Rod Nayfield]

What kernel version is this? (Your meminfo doesn't have many values  
that are useful here.)

If the box falls over after 6 hours, I would look at slabinfo from  
boot time and compare to 5.5 hours later.  Skb's will be dynamic, but  
if they grow forever then you probably have a leak in the driver code,  
or something is happening where messages aren't being delivered and  
the kernel is buffering them forever. Does the box act like a bridge?   
Can you get a newer kernel/driver from the vendor?

-rod


On Sep 14, 2008, at 2:59 PM, Thomas Pfau <pfau at nbpfaus.net> wrote:

> I've been searching internet for kernel buffer allocation information
> and found some information on the slab allocator.  Information about
> kernel buffers can be found in /proc/slabinfo.
>
> I wrote a new script to monitor changes in this file.  It scans the  
> file
> every 30 seconds.  When it sees a change in one of the caches, the
> script shows the cache name, the new number of pages allocated, and  
> the
> change in pages allocated.  Here's its output over the last several  
> minutes.
>
>      size-2048 761 (+1)
> skbuff_head_cache 73 (+1)
>      size-2048 764 (+3)
>        size-32 10 (+1)
>      size-2048 768 (+4)
>      size-2048 771 (+3)
>      size-2048 775 (+4)
> skbuff_head_cache 74 (+1)
>      size-2048 776 (+1)
>      size-2048 781 (+5)
>      size-2048 785 (+4)
> skbuff_head_cache 75 (+1)
>      size-2048 787 (+2)
>      size-2048 791 (+4)
>      size-2048 792 (+1)
>      size-2048 796 (+4)
> skbuff_head_cache 76 (+1)
>      size-2048 797 (+1)
>      size-2048 799 (+2)
>      size-2048 800 (+1)
>      size-2048 804 (+4)
>      size-2048 807 (+3)
> skbuff_head_cache 77 (+1)
>      size-2048 809 (+2)
>      size-2048 811 (+2)
>
> Sure looks like a leak to me.  Any idea how to debug slab leaks?   
> Looks
> like there's a patch that enables this but I doubt this kernel has the
> patch applied.
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