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    pfsense 2.5.2 slowly leaking memory

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • Cool_CoronaC
      Cool_Corona
      last edited by

      82365ff8-71a2-431a-b412-17ecf683bf68-billede.png

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @netnerdy
        last edited by stephenw10

        @netnerdy said in pfsense 2.5.2 slowly leaking memory:

        Also what is the expectation here? Am I supposed to wait until all my memory is exhausted so my router goes down and suffer the consequences? I would rather be proactive than to be reactive.

        I'm asking if it's actually a leak or just something using memory because your graph in the first screenshot looks to be leveling off at ~30% which generally wouldn't worry me.
        The actual used memory value will vary wildly with how much RAM you have installed and what packages you're running. 30% of 64GB with no packages would be unexpected. ๐Ÿ˜‰

        If it is a linear usage rise that characterises a memory leak then that's obviously a problem.
        In which case check what is using the memory.

        Steve

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        • N
          netnerdy @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10

          Sorry if misunderstood, thx for the clarification. Unfortunately, I had to reboot my router for another reason so I'll need to wait a week to answer your question.

          I started paying attention to mem usage just because of the pcscd leak. When I saw the second drop I was worried. I would be totally content with the explanation of "this kind of mem usage trend is by design", which seems to be case. I'll revive this if I see anything fishy. thx!

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Mmm, hard to say without more data. If is is still leaking somewhere it's small. It could also be something that simply doesn't free memory unless it has to and since you still have >30% free it doesn't.
            Keep monitoring it. Check the process list.

            Steve

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            • M
              murzik @stephenw10
              last edited by murzik

              There is definitely a memory leak in 2.5.2. Have to reboot about once a week, otherwise system just crash, because it runs out of memory (have 8GB) and swap.

              CybermazeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @netnerdy
                last edited by johnpoz

                @netnerdy said in pfsense 2.5.2 slowly leaking memory:

                when you do a monthly view with 1 hour resolution?

                Here is my sg4860 running 21.05.1, been up 46 days. Graph 1 month, 1 hour resolution

                graph.jpg

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • Cool_CoronaC
                  Cool_Corona
                  last edited by Cool_Corona

                  This post is deleted!
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                  • N
                    netnerdy
                    last edited by

                    Turns out the biggest memory hog was pfblocker unbound mode. When I switched to python mode I see significant memory savings.

                    74741cbf-0c79-447b-bf26-ffd3bcffb59f-image.png

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                    • Cool_CoronaC
                      Cool_Corona
                      last edited by

                      Huge difference in systems all running the same config.

                      1e3f9b28-f62d-4e46-935b-38e31583530e-billede.png

                      3d631020-d0a6-41f4-b0b3-582d731f62cc-billede.png

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                      c2f585f0-327e-4aaf-90de-ddff581e2cb7-billede.png

                      08abd6da-e277-463e-b0da-996ac6542987-billede.png

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                      • CybermazeC
                        Cybermaze @murzik
                        last edited by

                        @murzik I agree, 2.5.2 is acting weird.

                        On a system with 4GB of ram and 2GB of swap, after 70 days, I notice unusual behavior.

                        Ram and swap usage is at 60%, however, I have never ever seen swap usage before, even after months of uptime.

                        My setup is really basic, no ressource hungry addons of any kind.

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                        • M
                          mer @Cool_Corona
                          last edited by

                          @cool_corona you say "same config"; is it same hardware, same set of packages, same functionality in your network?
                          Just curious because your graphs are "interesting"

                          Cool_CoronaC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Cool_CoronaC
                            Cool_Corona @mer
                            last edited by

                            @mer Exactly the same.

                            M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • M
                              murzik @Cool_Corona
                              last edited by murzik

                              Just for one day
                              8871cf51-d934-48da-b696-23e882b4c8df-image.png
                              6c1d39ee-fff1-4f33-bcd7-241d09777dec-image.png

                              After reboot
                              7bebc9e4-86b3-42c7-8fbd-aecedacc91b1-image.png
                              20b4451e-a816-4aa1-be64-6eba7080599f-image.png

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                              • S
                                SteveITS Galactic Empire @murzik
                                last edited by SteveITS

                                @murzik And just to be clear, you've patched for the pcscd issue and/or that service is stopped (Status/Services)? We do have one 2.5.2 and its graphs are literally flat today except at 6:30 this morning when free memory increased 1%. That's when Suricata updates.

                                Do you have pfBlocker's DNSBL active, or any other packages?

                                Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                                johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • johnpozJ
                                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @SteveITS
                                  last edited by

                                  You can see exactly when I turned off pcscd a couple of days ago.. I thought I had stopped it, but it was running again..

                                  graph.jpg

                                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                  M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • M
                                    murzik @johnpoz
                                    last edited by

                                    Yes, I've patched pcscd. Do have pfblocker, snort, squid installed. But I had all the same packages for years.

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                                    • S
                                      SteveITS Galactic Empire @murzik
                                      last edited by

                                      @murzik I don't use DNSBL or Squid but you might read this recent post about pfBlocker.

                                      You could try looking at Diagnostics/System Activity, or run "top -o res" (sort by memory) at a command line, and see what is using the memory. I get:

                                      PID USERNAME    THR PRI NICE   SIZE    RES STATE    C   TIME    WCPU COMMAND
                                      81511 root         10  20    0   381M   337M nanslp   0 586:13   1.49% suricata
                                      89847 root          1  52    0   135M    47M accept   0   0:29   0.00% php-fpm
                                      93096 root          1  21    0   133M    46M accept   0   0:13   0.29% php-fpm
                                      11372 root          1  52    0   132M    45M accept   1   0:03   0.00% php-fpm
                                      338 root          1  52    0   133M    45M accept   0   0:11   0.00% php-fpm
                                      337 root          1  52    0   132M    44M accept   1   0:34   0.00% php-fpm
                                      26574 root          1  52    0    59M    38M piperd   1   0:00   0.00% php_pfb
                                      73546 unbound       4  20    0    68M    32M kqread   1   1:17   0.00% unbound
                                      336 root          1  20    0   102M    25M kqread   0   1:25   0.00% php-fpm
                                      37003 root          1  20    0    29M  9648K kqread   2   0:07   0.05% nginx
                                      36796 root          1  20    0    29M  9644K kqread   3   0:03   0.00% nginx
                                      ...
                                      

                                      Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                      Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                                      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • M
                                        murzik @SteveITS
                                        last edited by murzik

                                        @steveits
                                        The problem not what application uses the most memory, but that memory usage grow over the time. I have to reboot every other day.
                                        c09cf59b-c10d-41f3-bed3-3b8c8a9adde6-image.png
                                        21ba4b38-fff9-492b-b1b8-87287c609b3d-image.png

                                        Also memory usage displayed with "top -o res" does not account for all memory used memory shown in GUI.
                                        Stopping PF blocker does not free memory.

                                        S GertjanG stephenw10S 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          SteveITS Galactic Empire @murzik
                                          last edited by

                                          @murzik said in pfsense 2.5.2 slowly leaking memory:

                                          memory usage grow over the time

                                          I was assuming there was a particular process increasing in size. If it's multiple processes that would make it a bit harder to diagnose, perhaps just watch over time. But if it isn't happening to everyone then it seems like it's not a generic FreeBSD/pfSense problem...

                                          That said unbound on the two routers I just looked at is much smaller than 700 MB, around 30-50 MB. We don't have pfBlocker's DNSBL running though.

                                          Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                          When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                          Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

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                                          • GertjanG
                                            Gertjan @murzik
                                            last edited by

                                            @murzik

                                            pfBlockerNG, the DNSBL part : you're using the python mode ?

                                            My unbound process is one of the biggest (but not the biggest) process in my system, but stays at around 100 Mbytes :

                                            96339 unbound       2  20    0   101M    95M kqread   0   0:03   0.37% unbound
                                            

                                            No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                                            Edit : and where are the logs ??

                                            M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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