Very Computer

     I appear to be losing my memory, so to speak, over time, seen
running `top'. After a day or so of normal operations, I'm down at
just a few Mb of RAM left, and the machine seems to get pretty sluggish.
Certain programs then simply won't run either.

     The Solaris 2 FAQ says this is (probably) a known problem:

   ``There's a bug in the volume management device driver that when
     unloaded leaks memory: fix with patch 101907-05 (sparc) or
     101908-07 (x86).''

     But I can't find the specified patch on sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk in
sun/sunsolve-patches. Can anyone help? I know I should probably just
upgrade to Solaris 2.5, but I don't have the time to do so at present.

     Are there any other reasons I might be losing memory this way?
For example, the FAQ says that the Xsun was known to leak on SX machines
under Solaris 2.3, but that it should've been fixed in 2.4. All help,
suggestions, etc. gratefully received.

                              Thanks in advance,
                                                  Mark

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Mark McCaughrean    | K\"onigstuhl 17  | Phone: Germany + 6221 528 302
Max-Planck-Institut | 69117 Heidelberg | FAX:   Germany + 6221 528 246

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Patch: 101945-27  Obsoletes: 101918-01,101969-07,101971-01,101975-01,
101981-02,101983-03,102169-01,102926-01
Packages: SUNWarc.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=46,
SUNWbcp.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=6,
SUNWcar.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=40,
SUNWcsr.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=69,
SUNWcsu.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.22.14.32,PATCH=95,
SUNWhea.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=24,
SUNWkvm.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=21,
SUNWscpu.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=7,
SUNWsra.2 11.5.1,REV=94.07.15.22.10,PATCH=6
Patch: 102057-14  Obsoletes: 102203
Packages: SUNWxwplt.2 3.4.18,REV=0.94.07.15,PATCH=19
Patch: 102224-04  Obsoletes:
Packages: SUNWcsu.3 11.5.1,REV=94.07.22.14.32,PATCH=91
Patch: 102226-08  Obsoletes:
Packages: SUNWmfrun.2 1.2.3,REV=5.3,PATCH=8
Patch: 101922-10  Obsoletes:
Packages: SUNWsx.2 1.0.1,REV=4.34.0,PATCH=10,
SUNWsxow.2 1.0.0,REV=4.34.0,PATCH=10,
SUNWsxxgl.2 1.0.0,REV=4.35.0,PATCH=10,
SUNWsxxil.2 1.0.0,REV=4.34.0,PATCH=10

Quote:>   ``There's a bug in the volume management device driver that when
>     unloaded leaks memory: fix with patch 101907-05 (sparc) or
>     101908-07 (x86).''

-r--r--r--   1 root     staff      228368 Feb 28 18:27 101907-11.tar.gz

I think the above patch is obsoleted by this one. If You can't get it,
I can mail it to You.

Patrick
--
Patrick Bosch        Dept. of Computer Science, University of Bonn, Germany
                     http://pan.cs.bonn.edu/~bosch    phone: +49-228-550417

'Have you ever started a chain reaction by dropping your bike onto a line of
 parked bikes?' (+3)
'Did you receive applause for this?' (+1)          rrr #39 | '93 BMW r1100rs

MM> I'm running a SPARC20 SX as a stand-alone machine, more or less
MM> single user. I have a single 125MHz HyperSPARC cpu, and 256Mb of
MM> RAM, and (around) 300Mb of swap. I'm running Solaris 2.4. I've
MM> appended my current patch status (showrev -p) at the end of this
MM> message.

MM>      I appear to be losing my memory, so to speak, over time, seen
MM> running `top'. After a day or so of normal operations, I'm down at
MM> just a few Mb of RAM left, and the machine seems to get pretty
MM> sluggish.  Certain programs then simply won't run either.

MM>      The Solaris 2 FAQ says this is (probably) a known problem:

MM>    ``There's a bug in the volume management device driver that
MM> when unloaded leaks memory: fix with patch 101907-05 (sparc) or
MM> 101908-07 (x86).''

MM>      But I can't find the specified patch on sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk
MM> in sun/sunsolve-patches. Can anyone help? I know I should probably
MM> just upgrade to Solaris 2.5, but I don't have the time to do so at
MM> present.

If you are not running the vold daemon, and you don't have the 101908
patch, then the vol driver will *definitely* leak memory.  You need to
get any version of 101908 greater than 6 (i.e. version 7, version 8,
...).  The later the better (i.e. the higher the rev number, the
better), since this fixes a few more volmgt bugs.

(Of course, I *have* to say that these bugs are fixed in 2.5 (;-)).
--

He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.  -- M. C. Escher

      [Solaris FAQ] ``There's a bug in the volume management device driver
      that when unloaded leaks memory: fix with patch 101907-05 (sparc) or
      101908-07 (x86).''

   If you are not running the vold daemon, and you don't have the 101908
   patch, then the vol driver will *definitely* leak memory.  You need to
   get any version of 101908 greater than 6 (i.e. version 7, version 8,

Does your comment apply to the corresponding 101907 patch?

If so, it would agree with problems on our site: Severe swapping
(iowait > 90%) on the NIS+ replica after a number of days, even though
total swap is very small.  

The NIS+ master is very similar, but has 101907 and does not seem to
have the problem (but use of the two machines differs somewhat).

I've applied 101907 to the troublesome machine, but it will be several
days before I will know if it helped.  Solaris-2.4 Sparc-20.

--

The Solaris-FAQ says

      ``There's a bug in the volume management device driver that
      when unloaded leaks memory: fix with patch 101907-05 (sparc)
      or 101908-07 (x86).''

Quote:Duncan writes:

It will be several days before I know if this fixed our troubles, but
it does agree with our observations (NIS+ master with the patch works,
similar machine serving as replica has severe swapping after several
days even though total swap use is very small).

I had this idea that the patch would be needed only if vold was used.
Silly me.  Perhaps an extra sentence could be added to the FAQ for
boneheads like me.

Many thanks to Lee Duncan (and to Casper H.S. Dik for the FAQ).

--