Less than 512MB RAM issues

[luzemario]

Hello folks,

I am running OpnSense on a eBox. This embedded device has only 512MB RAM, leaving about to 488MB free for OpnSense. Clicking on "Update" freezes the box, maybe due to low RAM.

Any clues on how to use less RAM? The default 17.1 install can be made shorter?

[monstermania]

Hi luzemario,
i don't know your hardware. But i don't believe that 512 MB RAM is not enough RAM to get OPNsense to work!
Some people uses OPNsense on old PC-Engines ALIX devices that only have 256 MB RAM!

On my hw OPNsense uses ~ 150 MB RAM.

best regards
Dirk

[franco]

You probably don't have a swap partition, go to system settings misc and enable the 2GB swap file option and reboot.

We added this specifically for such systems, it seemed to solve such issues. But the setup is manual.


Cheers,
Franco

[monstermania]

You probably don't have a swap partition, go to system settings misc and enable the 2GB swap file option and reboot.
We added this specifically for such systems, it seemed to solve such issues. But the setup is manual.

Hi Franco,
i've seen this option into my OPNsense, too. But there ist no help text for this entry.
When it's make sense to set this option (i.e. Nano, or less RAM, HD-Install)?

best regards
Dirk

[franco]

Hi Dirk,

Did not bother with a help text: I wanted this to be straight forward and save explanations for the docs.

The case is simple. If you don't have a swap partition (small install or nano) which you can check from the system widget, you can enable this swap file which is put to root disk to avoid out-of-memory errors by allowing more memory to be mapped. This is also less harmful for flash drives, the file can be spread over the full partition, a real swap is bound by its size.

The downside of swap files is that they cannot store kernel crash reports, which we consider vital for a healthy ecosystem so we never migrated away from traditional swap partitions.


Cheers,
Franco

[luzemario]

Hi folks, sorry for the delay.

I was investigating througly this issue, and I found the following:

- I am receiving lots of messages regarding phyton2.7 suspension expired. I disabled ASLR per other post instructions, but the message changes from <ASLR> to <NOASLR>, but there is no visible change;
- Often, the phyton2.7 or the php-cgi processes takes 100% of CPU for no reason. I kill the related process, but after some time it happens again.

I enabled swap, but the use of swap file is at 0% all times.
Maybe this issue is not related to lack of RAM, but it is the i386 platfom the cause.

[franco]

Hi there,

It may be worth looking for a more recent replacement (7-5 years old), e.g. an old amd64 desktop with a e1000 card for additional networking if it needs to be on a budget.

Is there a hardware spec for your device somewhere to skim through?


Cheers,
Franco

[luzemario]

Hi Franco,

Thanks for the suggestion, but pfSense works on this box, so I think OPNSense can do it too.

Further investigation brought to me the following process eating 100% of CPU:

Code Select Expand

/usr/local/bin/python2.7 /usr/local/opnsense/service/configd_ctl.py interface newipv6 ppp

So "newipv6" on "ppp" interface can be the issue? I do no know if IPv6 can be got on pppoe wan interface.

[luzemario]

I created a new thread about this, because it is not related to RAM anymore:

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=7723.0

[luzemario]

Is there a hardware spec for your device somewhere to skim through?

Yes, you can check it here: www.compactpc.com.tw

I am using the model: http://www.compactpc.com.tw/product.aspx?act=detail&id=85