Release Asuswrt-Merlin 388.2 is now available for select models

[bennor]

The slightest operation (copying, writing, moving, etc.) on the usb disk will increase your ram usage up to 97% and it will stay stuck in that state. Asus was unable to fix this situation.

Some have found ways to deal with that particular issue. Some discussion later in this thread. From running code (ex: echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches) to clear the cache , to using a script (see this post) to clear the cache at a set time each day via CRON.

 

[naznaznaz]

If the memory usage in Asus routers is over 90%, the biggest reason is the disk attached to the usb. The larger the size of the disk attached to your usb, the higher the memory usage. You can test the accuracy of what I wrote as many times as you want. You can restart the router once a day by scheduling. However, when you use a USB disk during the day, the memory usage still goes over 90%.

 

[ColDen]

If the memory usage in Asus routers is over 90%, the biggest reason is the disk attached to the usb. The larger the size of the disk attached to your usb, the higher the memory usage. You can test the accuracy of what I wrote as many times as you want. You can restart the router once a day by scheduling. However, when you use a USB disk during the day, the memory usage still goes over 90%.

I agree with you that what you do with a disk (like a hard drive) you connect to the USB port can definitively have an impact to RAM usage, especially if you use that disk for intensive read/write (à la NAS) but if your connected USB flash disk is only to be used with the standard addons then the impact should not be that high. According to your arguments every ASUS router user who have a disk connected to their router should have a RAM usage problem, which is clearly not the case. As previously mentioned, the reasons for the reported high RAM usage could also be caused by other reasons.

 

[Ripshod]

Even without serving files my AX88U goes straight to 96% when a usb is added to run just entware and scripts. One of the scripts (scMerlin) shows the the spare space is being used as a cache, which by normal conventions should be released when needed for other purposes. Don't just look at the GUI and immediately assume a crash is imminent.

 

[gk802]

"cat /proc/meminfo" or "free" should provide better info than either the top page of the GUI or the app on how much memory is available for use when needed.

 

[naznaznaz]

I agree with you that what you do with a disk (like a hard drive) you connect to the USB port can definitively have an impact to RAM usage, especially if you use that disk for intensive read/write (à la NAS) but if your connected USB flash disk is only to be used with the standard addons then the impact should not be that high. According to your arguments every ASUS router user who have a disk connected to their router should have a RAM usage problem, which is clearly not the case. As previously mentioned, the reasons for the reported high RAM usage could also be caused by other reasons.

The 97% ram usage does not cause any problems in the device. If you use the memory, the ram becomes 97% and hangs there. For example, when we start to copy data to the usb memory when the ram is at 60%, the ram usage increases to 97% and remains so after the copying is finished. The device cannot optimize the ram usage to 60% again after the process related to the usb memory is terminated. If you just delete the data you copied, the ram comes back to 60%.

 

[ColDen]

Even without serving files my AX88U goes straight to 96% when a usb is added to run just entware and scripts. One of the scripts (scMerlin) shows the the spare space is being used as a cache, which by normal conventions should be released when needed for other purposes. Don't just look at the GUI and immediately assume a crash is imminent.
View attachment 50740

My experience with my USB flash disk (old Kingston 16 Gb) on my present GT-AX6000 and old RT-AC86U have been similar (expected RAM usage). The only time I have noticed a constant very high RAM usage with the RT-AC86U was when I initially also had a WD MyBook 4 TB connected and used as a backup and files sharing (big mistake), which issue was resolved when removed and replaced by a Synology DS220+. Note that today's USB flash disks are less reliable and have a higher failure rate.

 

[anotherengineer]

Look at you guys flexing on me. LOL!

If you insist

I will check my vanilla Asuswrt to check if it has memory creep tonight.

 

[shabbs]

If you insist

I will check my vanilla Asuswrt to check if it has memory creep tonight.

View attachment 50741

LOL! Holding steady here at 50%...

EDIT: And yes, love Ren and Stimpy. Classic.

 

[cmkelley]

"cat /proc/meminfo" or "free" should provide better info than either the top page of the GUI or the app on how much memory is available for use when needed.

Exactly. We go through this every so often here. On my AX86U Pro, cat/proc/meminfo give me the following:

# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:        1018788 kB
MemFree:           33116 kB
MemAvailable:     421140 kB

The webgui reports the 33mB free, but in reality, 421mB is available for immediate use. The difference is areas the kernel think it could use again if needed, but aren't currently in use. If the kernel needs those areas again, it simply marks them as used and the MemAvailable goes down but the MemFree doesn't change. If new data is needed, it can write the new data anywhere in the "available" areas without swapping anything to disk.

TL;DR: a low "Free Memory" in the webgui is completely meaningless without other context. That's just the way almost all Unix / Unix-like systems (and others) report memory usage. Windows doesn't appear to do it this way to my very untrained eye.

 

[John Adler]

Since I switched off AIProtection the used Ram is 534 without changes...
update
I had switched off the router and 10 min later started again, the ram was 490...

 

[Weblee2407]

Has anyone else found SSH sessions do not time out after this update? I am not finding anything searching on the topic.

 

[RMerlin]

A lot of SSH clients will send keep-alive packets.

 

[Weblee2407]

I did a 388.2 from scratch and saved the config in case I couldn't get 388.2_2 to work and needed to fall back - the session timeout worked in that revision

After multiple wipes and installs 388.2_2 ssh doesn't time out with same Ubuntu workstation as client. ssh_timeout is set in NVRAM show...any advice on where to look? It is the last, and yes, least of me finally getting 3882_2 online and running like a top. I didnt check this on each install attempt because I had other issues.

I have settings saved now, so I could reset and see how it works prior to installing entware and stuff over the weekend, I guess.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

LOL! Holding steady here at 50%...

View attachment 50746

EDIT: And yes, love Ren and Stimpy. Classic.

To jump on this bandwagon... my GT-AX6000 seems to reach the 960's in the course of a day, and just hangs there. I'm not noticing any degradation of performance, nor any swap file usage... Just seems to me like the OS is doing its job by utilizing RAM as efficiently as possible, because free RAM is wasted RAM right?

Looking at htop, unbound is definitely consuming the most memory, but full disclosure, I'm running screen instances of vpnmon-r2, rtrmon, wxmon, killmon and pwrmon at all times as well... for testing purposes of course...

 

[anotherengineer]

LOL! Holding steady here at 50%...

View attachment 50746

EDIT: And yes, love Ren and Stimpy. Classic.

Asus vanilla
edit

Uptime	3 days 7 hour(s) 55 minute(s) 26 seconds

 

[Deleted member 84281]

Just seems to me like the OS is doing its job by utilizing RAM as efficiently as possible, because free RAM is wasted RAM right?

True under normal circumstances. Asus has already said there is a memory leak in 22525 firmware there really is nothing more to discuss its real and it's there. It has also been fixed in the latest stock 23285 release. So no ram is not being used correctly on this build.

 

[Tech9]

...because free RAM is wasted RAM right?

It's wasted RAM that could be used for something else.

 

[shabbs]

To jump on this bandwagon... my GT-AX6000 seems to reach the 960's in the course of a day, and just hangs there. I'm not noticing any degradation of performance, nor any swap file usage... Just seems to me like the OS is doing its job by utilizing RAM as efficiently as possible, because free RAM is wasted RAM right?

Looking at htop, unbound is definitely consuming the most memory, but full disclosure, I'm running screen instances of vpnmon-r2, rtrmon, wxmon, killmon and pwrmon at all times as well... for testing purposes of course...

View attachment 50763

For me, I'm not running anything extra on the router and it was only nt_center that was growing and using the memory. This was a departure from all previous behaviour observations I've seen. Asus has acknowledged a "memory leak" so who knows if I was seeing that. My router never had an issue running with 97% used so it was fine. This was more of a curious adventure to see what would happen.

Yes, Linux loves ram.

Help! Linux ate my RAM!

 

[ColDen]

For me, I'm not running anything extra on the router and it was only nt_center that was growing and using the memory. This was a departure from all previous behaviour observations I've seen. Asus has acknowledged a "memory leak" so who knows if I was seeing that. My router never had an issue running with 97% used so it was fine. This was more of a curious adventure to see what would happen.

Yes, Linux loves ram.

Help! Linux ate my RAM!

As previously mentioned, I am rock solid at 66% with 23 days since last reboot:

Crossing fingers...