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    Continuously increasing memory usage since the update to 2.6

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Looks like it's already in 2.7 snapshots too if you're able to test one.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • fireodoF
        fireodo @kprovost
        last edited by

        @kprovost said in Continuously increasing memory usage since the update to 2.6:

        The good news is that the fix is already included in the upcoming 22.05 (plus) release and will also be in future CE releases.

        Dumb Question: is there a command to release that memory on a running system? (I think no)

        Kettop Mi4300YL CPU: i5-4300Y @ 1.60GHz RAM: 8GB Ethernet Ports: 4
        SSD: SanDisk pSSD-S2 16GB (ZFS) WiFi: WLE200NX
        pfsense 2.8.0 CE
        Packages: Apcupsd, Cron, Iftop, Iperf, LCDproc, Nmap, pfBlockerNG, RRD_Summary, Shellcmd, Snort, Speedtest, System_Patches.

        K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • K
          kprovost @fireodo
          last edited by

          @fireodo There is not, no.

          That's sort of why we call it 'leaked' memory. It's gone (at least until the system is rebooted). If this were a user space leak you could restart the application to reclaim the memory, but as it's leaking from the kernel you have to restart the kernel (i.e. reboot).

          fireodoF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • fireodoF
            fireodo @kprovost
            last edited by fireodo

            @kprovost said in Continuously increasing memory usage since the update to 2.6:

            It's gone (at least until the system is rebooted).

            Understood. Thank you!
            BTW: I can also confirm this as I made myself researches in this matter on my Lab machine. (Following the instructions in this thread)

            Best regards,
            fireodo

            Kettop Mi4300YL CPU: i5-4300Y @ 1.60GHz RAM: 8GB Ethernet Ports: 4
            SSD: SanDisk pSSD-S2 16GB (ZFS) WiFi: WLE200NX
            pfsense 2.8.0 CE
            Packages: Apcupsd, Cron, Iftop, Iperf, LCDproc, Nmap, pfBlockerNG, RRD_Summary, Shellcmd, Snort, Speedtest, System_Patches.

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            • M
              manueljv2 @fireodo
              last edited by

              @fireodo Good day, this problem was solved? I have the same problem and I have not managed to solve it. can help me please

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              • K
                kprovost @manueljv2
                last edited by

                @manueljv2 Yes, the fix is in both the current 2.7 snapshots and the upcoming 23.01 plus release.

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                • D
                  dschmitz @kprovost
                  last edited by

                  @kprovost Has this issue been fixed? I am having the same issues and I am on 23.01.
                  Any ideas?
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                  • S
                    SteveITS Galactic Empire @dschmitz
                    last edited by

                    @dschmitz said in Continuously increasing memory usage since the update to 2.6:

                    @kprovost Has this issue been fixed? I am having the same issues and I am on 23.01.

                    See
                    https://forum.netgate.com/topic/178568/netgate-1100-high-memory-consumption/4

                    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 👍 helpful posts!

                    D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • D
                      dschmitz @SteveITS
                      last edited by

                      @steveits Thank you! Have installed the patch and configured the system tunable. Will post back if continue to have issues.

                      K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • K
                        kprovost @dschmitz
                        last edited by

                        @dschmitz Steve's already pointed you at a way to have the UI show lower memory use, but I wanted to reinforce the point that what your 'top' screenshot shows is not a problem.

                        It does show that the majority of RAM is in use, but if you look one line lower you can see that 13 out of the 14 GB of wired memory is used by the ARC (ZFS's buffer cache).
                        That's a good thing. It means that the memory you paid for is doing stuff, rather than sitting around burning electrons for nothing. Once memory is needed for other things (such as pf states, or installing packages or any of the thousands of other things the system does) the ARC will release that memory.

                        As a general rule, memory usage on modern operating systems is much more complicated than you think it is, even if you take this rule into account.

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