Can no longer access UI without services being killed due to being out-of-memory

[pdxni]

I have been using a generic intel based SFF PC/firewall device for a few years. Until recently I was on v23.x but have been working through upgades to get to latest.  I was able to use the UI to get to 25.x, but since then I can no longer use the UI without killing services. I did get to 25.1.7 via CLI and avoiding the UI.

The device has 4GB of RAM and after reboot has 1.5-2GB free. As soon as I login to UI and land on the dashboard (no futher actions) that free memory plummets towards 0 as php processes spawn, once exhausted of free RAM then other services start to get killed (nginx / unbound etc). If I killall -9 php php-cgi php-fpm, I get back to 2GB free and starting the killed services gets me back to working again, at least.

Code Select Expand

<13>1 2025-05-25T06:05:17+00:00 OPNsense.localdomain kernel - - [meta sequenceId="8"] <3>pid 45596 (nginx), jid 0, uid 80, was killed: failed to reclaim memory
<13>1 2025-05-25T06:05:18+00:00 OPNsense.localdomain kernel - - [meta sequenceId="9"] <3>pid 45490 (nginx), jid 0, uid 0, was killed: failed to reclaim memory
Is 4GB just too limited for the latest version? I am looking at device replacement, but would be good if I could get to the UI to make some changes before then.

[pdxni]

Replying to my own post, but i decided it was upgrade time and went to a N150 + 16GB RAM box. Fresh install of latest version. Interface lightening quick and all issues gone. Of course a fresh install on the old box could have solved, but figured it was time. I shall repurpose that one.

[cookiemonster]

4 GB of RAM could be enough depending on demands on it but sure enough it can boot without crashing.
It is likely IMHO that the configuration needs to change in between versions and that's what causes a high load and the limited amount of RAM is insufficient. That said, it can happen also with much larger amounts of RAM, with services stuck reconfiguring can run away with the memory use.
It would not surprise me if you found that a fresh install on it would work just fine. To begin with of course. 4 GB might be just too tight for what load you end up putting on it.