Pix515E memory usage problems

[azore2007]

Hi everyone!

I got alarms from my pix515E tonight that the memory usage was at 82%..

This is pretty strange since we have extremly small traffic during the night.

My interface graphs shows almost zero traffic during this incident. So it doesnt look like an attack.

My mem is currently at 72% which I would consider high?

Pix515E# sh memory

Free memory: 18529040 bytes (28%)

Used memory: 48579824 bytes (72%)

------------- ----------------

Total memory: 67108864 bytes (100%)

Pix515E# sh conn count

1332 in use, 12988 most used

Pix515E# sh xlate count

955 in use, 2030 most used

Running the 7.2(2) IOS on it..

Should I consider 72% memory usage normal? The load isnt even close on what the Pix should manage without any problems..

Is there some command that I can run that will free up some memory ? (If the pix internal garbage collector isnt doing its job?)

Thanks!

[sachin.verma]

Hi,

Here are some possible causes and resolutions for high memory utilization:

Event logging: Event logging can consume large amounts of memory. In order to resolve this issue, install and log all events to an external server, such as a syslog server.

Memory Leakage: A known issue in the security appliance software can lead to high memory consumption. In order to resolve this issue, upgrade the security appliance software.

Debugging Enabled: Debugging can consume large amounts of memory. In order to resolve this issue, disable debugging with the undebug all command.

Plz rate this post.

regards

Sachin Verma

[azore2007]

Hi

I have read that troubleshooting guide and already have a facility logging enabled.

And I dont have debugging on either.3

Guess I'll have to upgrade the IOS to 8.0 then

Thanks for the reply

[arif786]

Try checking some outputs of

show cpu

show process

show traffic

show perfmo

show block

[arif]

Hi Arif, thanks for the info.  I have similar problem on pix 81% utilization

sh mem    
Free memory:        25370936 bytes (19%)
Used memory:       108846792 bytes (81%)
-------------     ----------------
Total memory:      134217728 bytes (100%)

no debug running.  I have take difference of the show proc mem with intervals to check which process is taking a lot of memory but there is not much 49376 is maximum being taken by "Dispatch Unit.  any suggestions ? reboot the pix ?