[Solved] High RAM usage RT-AX88U, question.

[Skeptical.me]

My RT-AX88U is using up a lot of RAM ...

Is there a way to see what is using up the RAM the most?

I'm using Diversion, Skeynet, Unbound, OpenVPN clients, and uiDivstats.

I'm curious to know which service is chewing up the RAM the most.

 

[Rik Stigter]

My RT-AX88U is using up a lot of RAM ...

Is there a way to see what is using up the RAM the most?

I'm using Diversion, Skeynet, Unbound, OpenVPN clients, and uiDivstats.

I'm curious to know which service is chewing up the RAM the most.

Since you already have entware installed you could install htop or something like that, <opkg install htop> should do it.

Alternatives can be found on https://pkg.entware.net/binaries/armv7/Packages.html

But I don't think your memory usage is all that special. You have plenty of swap available, so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Two things. This goes round and round. Windows users (and Microsoft) do NOT understand Linux RAM management.
https://www.linuxatemyram.com/

This is my AC86U, looks like all the RAM is being used, right?

Look at all the cached memory!
Also the second line - buffers and cache, FREE and ready for any task!

usr_name@RT-AC86U-4608:/tmp/home/root# free

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        440420     408748      31672       1260       2376      69624
-/+ buffers/cache:     336748     103672
Swap:       524284      19552     504732

More readily available to the router for use than the hardware RAM! Very cool, huh? Someone was really thinking about this! Welcome to Linux! I've run it as my main desktop computer OS for some 15-20 years. And my laptop is a Macbook, very similar OS to Linux, so drop me to a command prompt and I know my way around there too.

 

[Skeptical.me]

Two things. This goes round and round. Windows users (and Microsoft) do NOT understand Linux RAM management.
https://www.linuxatemyram.com/

This is my AC86U, looks like all the RAM is being used, right?

Look at all the cached memory!
Also the second line - buffers and cache, FREE and ready for any task!

usr_name@RT-AC86U-4608:/tmp/home/root# free

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        440420     408748      31672       1260       2376      69624
-/+ buffers/cache:     336748     103672
Swap:       524284      19552     504732

More readily available to the router for use than the hardware RAM! Very cool, huh? Someone was really thinking about this! Welcome to Linux! I've run it as my main desktop computer OS for some 15-20 years. And my laptop is a Macbook, very similar OS to Linux, so drop me to a command prompt and I know my way around there too.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm actually exclusively a Mac and iOS user (2017 iMac 27" 5K) and have been for years. I know very little about Windows. But my knowledge of how RAM works in this regard could do with some educating.

Thanks for the explanation. Good to know.

 

[Skeptical.me]

admin@RT-AX88U-E390:/tmp/home/root# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        903572     732008     171564       2516      74220     166372
-/+ buffers/cache:     491416     412156
Swap:      2097148          0    2097148

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm actually exclusively a Mac and iOS user (2017 iMac 27" 5K) and have been for years. I know very little about Windows. But my knowledge of how RAM works in this regard could do with some educating.

Thanks for the explanation. Good to know.

Ah, my bias exposed.

Seems that majority of users here are Windows users, and I am one of the oddball few using an "alt" OS.

Just keep in mind that RAM management and usage are a non-linear algorithms, and most of us humans like to think of everything in linear terms, to make them easier to understand.

 

[Skeptical.me]

Ah, my bias exposed.

Seems that majority of users here are Windows users, and I am one of the oddball few using an "alt" OS.

Just keep in mind that RAM management and usage are a non-linear algorithms, and most of us humans like to think of everything in linear terms, to make them easier to understand.

I've purchased some Raspberry Pi's to learn from, they use Raspbian (Debian) so I should learn a bit more about Command Line. I know the basics of CL but not much more than that.

 

[L&LD]

@Skeptical.me you can also install the @Jack Yaz scMerlin script from within amtm. Great 'instant' options with a click of a key, including CPU usage and RAM/memory usage too.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/scmerlin-service-and-script-control-menu-for-asuswrt-merlin.56277/

And on the RT-AX88U I use? The available RAM has been as low as 16MB (via the GUI's stats) with no crashes or slowdowns noted (avg closer to 25MB-35MB).

 

[Skeptical.me]

@Skeptical.me you can also install the @Jack Yaz scMerlin script from within amtm. Great 'instant' options with a click of a key, including CPU usage and RAM/memory usage too.



https://www.snbforums.com/threads/scmerlin-service-and-script-control-menu-for-asuswrt-merlin.56277/

And on the RT-AX88U I use? The available RAM has been as low as 16MB (via the GUI's stats) with no crashes or slowdowns noted (avg closer to 25MB-35MB).

Ahhh, that's what that script does. I hadn't explored it yet. I'll test it out, cheers.

 

[rgnldo]

Is there a way to see what is using up the RAM the most?

top -m

 

[Skeptical.me]

top -m

Looks like Unbound is using the most ...

Mem total:903572 anon:108892 map:19728 free:358420
 slab:290284 buf:1008 cache:55668 dirty:8 write:0
Swap total:2097148 free:2097148
  PID^^^VSZ^VSZRW   RSS (SHR) DIRTY (SHR) STACK COMMAND
20536 67712 60800 22040  3192 17736     0   196 unbound -c /opt/v
 1253 60596 42680  3484  2724   760     0   132 amas_lib
 1084 54540 50128 52056  2220 50028   192   132 dnsmasq --log-asy
 2153 49384 43628  6732  3388  2700     0   132 pixelserv-tls 192
  321 18524 16724   876   660   112     0   132 /bin/swmdk
 1238 17160  4428  2872  1824   740     0   132 cfg_server
 1160 15800  7356 10988  3480  6968     0   132 httpds -s -i br0
 6098 14692 10700  1356   992   192     0   132 dcd -i 3600 -p 43
 1219 14620  3024  3136  2588   540     0   132 conn_diag
 1081 14620  3024  2920  2396   524     0   132 /sbin/netool
 2627 13592  4736  3056  1044  1588     0   132 wred -B
    1 13588  1996  4828  2844  1760     0   140 /sbin/init
 1171 12572   980  3320  2728   576     0   132 watchdog
 1057 12572   980  3172  2608   564     0   132 /sbin/wanduck
 1207 12572   980  3132  2580   552     0   132 pctime
 1172 12572   980  3068  2532   536     0   132 check_watchdog
 1788 12572   980  3308  2756   532     0   132 disk_monitor
 1203 12572   980  3068  2540   528     0   132 hour_monitor
 2893 12572   980  3400  2860   528     0   132 bwdpi_wred_alive
 1456 12572   980  3236  2712   524     0   132 usbled
 1117 12572   980  2928  2412   516     0   132 wpsaide
 1176 12572   980  3108  2592   516     0   132 sw_devled
  944 12572   980  2680  2168   512     0   132 console
 1202 12572   980  2992  2480   512     0   132 bwdpi_check
 2901 11944   736  3048  2232   404    12   132 /usr/sbin/smbd -D
 2892 11776   568  2568  2276   196    12   132 /usr/sbin/nmbd -D
 1190 11748  4968  2536  2188   420   128   132 vis-dcon
 1079 11180  2704  1680  1368   304     0   132 nt_monitor
 1201  9652  1328  2320  1896   384     0   132 mastiff

 

[rgnldo]

Looks like Unbound is using the most

Report on the appropriate thread.

 

[Raphie]

Got this issue on the ac5300
After reboot 349mb around 60%, 5days later 490mb 99%
Don’t care that you can swap it out. The point is it looks like a memory leak, it should not grow
All services running after boot being 349mb, should not slowly flood into nearly 500mb with logging off after a couple of days. this is amtm diversion skynet only. Once you reach 99% processor utilisation gets through the roof and a reboot is needed

 

[rgnldo]

The culprit may be the user. There is a way around it. Finding the problems, search for specific threads and report.

 

[Raphie]

The culprit is not the user, if the user is doing standard stuff and doesn’t tinker it should just work no?
Memory leaks or bugs in entware is outside control of the user.

 

[Skeptical.me]

@rgnldo helped me to fix any issue with my Router RT-AX88U RAM usage is lower. Thank you for your help, appreciated.

 

[Raphie]

What was your specific issue?

 

[Skeptical.me]

What was your specific issue?

To be honest I'm not sure ha .... @rgnldo guided me through some steps to mitigate stress on the router. The RAM usage is lower so far. I'll see how it goes over the next few days and update here again.

 

[jsbeddow]

Actually, please stop worrying about RAM usage at all, I never even look at mine on any Linux based system, and I have never personally had any problem stemming from "running out of RAM". This subject keeps coming up periodically on this forum, please see this site that explains it very well:
https://www.linuxatemyram.com/

 

[Raphie]

That’s not what happening. Memory fills, not with caching, doesn’t release when needed, processes start swapping, cpu chokes, router near bricks, performance gone. Even if it was caching, then it’s a less than optimal implementation, as it never gives back to the system when needed. If not caching, once boot completes, memory consumption should not increase.
So one way or the other it’s wrong, as the end result should not be a router being brought to it’s knees after 5-7 days