Dear OSF1 Managers,
The original question was:
> We're running a DEC 2100 server with OSF/1 3.0 and 128 MB of real memory.
> The number of users is about 50-60.
>
> Recently, we had a number of crashes with the message "packet dropped: no
> mbuf" on the console.
>
> According to the DEC engineers, they suspect that the problem is due to
> the memory leak in the Advanced File System.
[ ... ]
> They also suggested to upgrading the version of OSF/1 to 3.2a which they
> claim addresses the advfs memory leak problem.
>
> Has anyone out there experience the same problem? Is the patch the
> correct solution? Or should we go for the upgrade?
We'll be going for the 3.2a upgrade plus the fixes. Thanks to all of
you who responded. Here is a summary of the responses I received so far:
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Dr. Tom Blinn tpb_at_zk3.dec.com wrote:
I can't comment on what the flag the support engineers changed does, as I've
not investigated the code. It probably turns off a feature of AdvFS that
uses the code that caused the crashes.
I will, however, comment on DEC OSF/1 V3.2A. If you have upgraded to or
have installed DEC OSF/1 V3.2 (which delivered a large number of bug fixes
that you will want if you are running DEC OSF/1 V3.0), and are using AdvFS,
DECsafe/ASE, or any of the other products delivered in the V3.2A kit, you
should install the OSF321 update from the V3.2A kit. It delivers several
critical patches (mandatory updates). Even if you're not using optional
products delivered on the kit, you may benefit from the updates.
If you have not yet upgraded to V3.2, you might want to wait for the V3.2A
media and install the OSF321 update immediately after your upgrade, and do
the necessary kernel rebuild at that time.
So, in most cases, and in this case for sure, the correct solution is to
install the upgrade.
gachamb_at_milp.jsc.nasa.gov wrote:
I've experineced MAJOR problems with advfs 3.2 memory problems. In fact we went
back to 3.0 because 3.2 memory leaks. I would suggest staying at 3.0 and
applying all of the patches. We have and things are more stable.
Clare West clare_at_cs.auckland.ac.nz wrote:
We had a similar errors and crashes after upgrading to 3.2 from 3.0B but
before applying the patches that came with 3.2 (DEC support out here in NZ
lent us their 3.2 cds to do the upgrade and didn't give us the patches or
the firmware upgrade). In the gap, when the machine was under load (it
never crashed in the evenings or on the weekends) it would crash about
twice a day, with memory faults and then would come up with the error you
described. Since installing the patches and firmware upgrade we have had no
problems at all.
We never had any problems of this type while running 3.0B. Upgrading fixed
the problems we had with defunct processes due to LAT sessions not
finishing properly.
Richard L Jackson Jr rjackson_at_gmu.edu wrote:
We saw the mbuf error under 3.2 during a crash and was fixed by patches to...
/usr/sys/BINARY/if_tu.o (DEC OSF/1 V3.2)
/usr/sys/data/if_tu_data.c
However, 3.0 has so many problems, you would be doing yourself a favor
by upgrading to OSF/1 3.2a. I fixes many AdvFS problems and some important
SMP problems.
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Regards,
Chang
Received on Wed May 03 1995 - 00:06:28 NZST