Wireless Access

I have a 3400 Series Controller running OS 6.2.1.4. The controller supports 64 AP135.

Airwave has flag the controller with a 'High Memory Utilization' indicator. The ideal level is 75%. Airwave reports the controller at 80.19%.

Airwave diagnostics resolution is to check for recent reboots, excessive client or network load.

Currently, there are 306 active clients connected. Total usage is 31.9Mbps.

The CPU load is user 5.4%, system 1.3% and idle 93.4% The controller has not rebooted in over 120 days. 

Are there any known memory issues with OS release 6.2.1.4 on the 3400 Series controller?  Is the issue related to the version of Airwave(7.7.5)? Is it possible that Airwave is inaccurately reporting controller stats?

The utlization is likely because you have the controller at 100% of its AP capacity.   A reboot will likely free up memory, but it is likely to climb back with the maxium # of APs.

Hello Clembo,

Most of the quote we have is to have 75% of the APs on the controler but in the evnt if customer were to buy more and hit 100%, are you saying that we should get an additional controller for that purpose? Customer will definitely ask why is it so as the datasheet stated clearly it can support 64 APs.

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@Normal Guy wrote:

Hello Clembo,

 

Most of the quote we have is to have 75% of the APs on the controler but in the evnt if customer were to buy more and hit 100%, are you saying that we should get an additional controller for that purpose? Customer will definitely ask why is it so as the datasheet stated clearly it can support 64 APs.

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No, I am not saying that they'd need a 2nd controller in this case.  I am merely saying that the reason you are using that much memory may have to do with the # of APs, that's all.    The memory utilization you are seeing does not necessarily mean there is a problem or that there is one impending.   As Colin suggests, if you'd fell more comfortable, have TAC take a look to rule any out any other cause.

For considerations as to when to upgrade a controller, take a look at the Mobility Controller VRD; search for the section When to Consider a Mobility Controller Upgrade.

Thanks Clembo for your verification. :robothappy:

Hi Clembo,

I have another location with 24 APs attached to a 3400 Series controller and approx 46 clients attached. The current memory utilization is 77.1%. A few months ago, the AP count did increase from 10 to 24. Looking at the Memory Utlization history report, I noticed a steady increase from 392mb to 498mb. 

I would not be concerned with the memory utilization.    The 3400 controller can handle the full load of 64 APs.     As you move up in ArubaOS code levels additional features are being added which will likely account for an uptick in memory utilization, but again, nothing to be concerned about...product managment is always conscious of existing hardware platform resources when it releases versions of code to ensure that all supported controllers can handle any additional resource consumption due to new features.    If there was a "leak" of any kind, the controller would have crashed at some point.    Review the VRD that I referenced above about when to consider upgrading a controller.   Otherwise, I think your probably fine with that utilization level.

Good Morning Clembo,

Thanks for the suggestion. I know the controller has a max AP count of 64. I would hope and I'm certain that many others have 3400 series controllers with 64 APs without the same impact. I'm still curious if the issue is OS related. I don't recall having the issue prior to the 6.2.1.4 OS upgrade. 

One other item that I like to include here too is that I have another 3400 series controller that seems to have the same issue. That controller, which is located in a different office only has 47 AP135s attached. 

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@anthony.l.brice wrote:

I have a 3400 Series Controller running OS 6.2.1.4. The controller supports 64 AP135.

 

Airwave has flag the controller with a 'High Memory Utilization' indicator. The ideal level is 75%. Airwave reports the controller at 80.19%.

 

Airwave diagnostics resolution is to check for recent reboots, excessive client or network load.

 

Currently, there are 306 active clients connected. Total usage is 31.9Mbps.

 

The CPU load is user 5.4%, system 1.3% and idle 93.4% The controller has not rebooted in over 120 days. 

 

Are there any known memory issues with OS release 6.2.1.4 on the 3400 Series controller?  Is the issue related to the version of Airwave(7.7.5)? Is it possible that Airwave is inaccurately reporting controller stats?

 

 

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anthony.i.brice,

If you had a service-impacting issue like a memory leak, the controller would have rebooted already.  You can open a case with support to see if you have an issue, otherwise, you are good.  Airwave looks at a particular percentage to warn you, but that does not mean that you do or will have an issue in the short term.  TAC can tell you if you have a problem and take it from there.

Thanks cjoseph for the suggestion. That's a good point. The controller has not rebooted, however, I did experience an issue last week where the controller lost communication to all the APs for about 30 seconds. Airwave reported 'down' from the controller and all the APs. The incident occurred during production hours. 

I have a case open with Aruba TAC. I sent over a copy of the tech-support tar file for both controllers. For far, Aruba Tech wasn't able to find any processes running abnormally.