CE500 switch high memory utilization - 92%

[rajesh.kumar]

We have 30 to 40 numbers of CE500 switch used for Voice/Data

All the CE500 swithes CPU is arround 20% but memory utilization is 92% and more.

Pls. let me know if anyone has any idea, why CE500 memory utilization is high? and how to reduce it.

version is 12.2-25FY

Attached screenshot from monitoring software.

Thanks

[Nicholas Oliver]

Rajesh,

In order to determine what is consuming the processor pool memory, there are a couple of places that you can look.  They include:

-show version

-show proc mem (or 'show proc mem sorted')

-show mem allocating-process totals

-show mem sum

All of these commands will help us to determine where the memory is being used, and whether or not that level of utilization is normal for your particular device.  Is it possible to provide these outputs?  Depending on what is seen within this information it will provide us a direction moving forward based on where the memory is being used.

-Nick

[rajesh.kumar]

Nick

How do i collect output of these commands?

This switch is GUI based.

[Nicholas Oliver]

Rajesh,

You can access these commands by accessing the CE500 via http:///exec/  Once you login you will run the specific commands by clicking a series of links for each keyword ("Show" -> "version") one by one.

-Nick

[rajesh.kumar]

Hello Nick

I have attached CE500 output for the commands you asked for.

Pls. let me know if you need more information.

[Nicholas Oliver]

Rajesh,

Based on these outputs there is no problem.  The CE-500 is operating within normal bounds.  However, this output does not reflect what the monitoring software is providing you.  For example, in these outputs we can see that the router is only using about 70% of its memory in the processor pool:

Command was:  show mem sum--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Head    Total(b)     Used(b)     Free(b)   Lowest(b)  Largest(b)
Processor    11A1900    11921152     8319888     3601264     2439432     3290864
      I/O    1D00000     3137536     1620904     1516632     1084512     1149000

Using 8.3 MB of 11.9 MB Total.  It also shows us that there has always been at least 2.4 MB free (Lowest).  This is not a problem as far as the switch and its opperating capabilities.  What is the monitoring software that you are using?  And what MIBs is it polling to retrieve this information?

-Nick

[rajesh.kumar]

Hi Nick

This is non peak hour, almost midnight.

No end users present at this moment. Not much Voice/Data traffic.That could be the reason.

Previously I have attached monitoring toll output, shows more than 92% memory utilization.

[rajesh.kumar]

Monitoring software is SNMP based solarwind

70% memory during no users voice/.data activity, is it normal? during working hours it goes beyond 92%

[Nicholas Oliver]

Possibly, however that wouldn't apply to this device.  At the lowest it has had 2.4 MB free (Lowest), this would reflect a percentage of around 80%.  92% utilized would be more like 1 MB free.  On this CE-500 that has never happened.  The outputs that we see right now show things within the normal range (both currently and at its peak).  Is there a way for you to determine which MIB Solarwinds is displaying on that particular graphic?

-Nick

[rajesh.kumar]

Here I have attached another CE500 switch log, solarwind was showing 92% for this switch.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Unless you have real problems (switch not working correctly), you should not concern about memory utilization.

[rajesh.kumar]

Hi

Show version

cisco WS-CE500-24PC (PowerPC405) processor (revision E0) with 29696K/3064K bytes of memory.

This switch has 29696K of memory

but 'show memory summ' shows less memory

Command was:  show proc mem sorted--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 10215764, Used: 7793104, Free: 2422660

and

Command was:  show mem sum--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Head    Total(b)     Used(b)     Free(b)   Lowest(b)  Largest(b)
Processor    1341EAC    10215764     7790384     2425380     1588268     1817504
      I/O    1D00000     3137536     1696928     1440608      918056     1115584

[Nicholas Oliver]

Rajesh,

The 'show version' displays the total amount of installed memory.  On the CE-500 this is 32 MB, and is not upgradable.  The 'show mem sum' and 'show proc mem sorted' display the amount of memory available after bootup.  This will be significantly less than the total 32 MB that is installed because on boot up the following happens:

1) The installed memory is divided into two pools (Processor and I/O)

2) The IOS image is decompressed into memory

Once these two things have taken place, the TOTAL is what remains within the processor pool.  So the 32 MB that is installed breaks down as follows:

10215764 bytes (Processor Pool Memory) + 3137536 bytes (I/O Pool Memory) + 20,201,132 bytes (IOS Image) = 33,554,432 bytes (or 32 MB)

The amount of memory required for the IOS image will vary slightly depending on the image and the features it contains.  As a general rule of thumb an IOS image will decompress to about 2-3X its size when it is compressed.

-Nick