Need to understand Free Memory Calculation on RHEL used in SystemEDGE/VAIM

Products

• CA Virtual Assurance for IM

Issue/Introduction

I need to understand Free Memory Calculation on RHEL used in SystemEDGE/VAIM.

Environment

SystemEDGE/VAIM 5.9/12.9

Resolution

• SysEDGE will use output from cat /proc/meminfo to do the calculation.
• The SystemEDGE parameter linux_freemem_include in the sysedge.cf file is how you can dictate how SystemEDGE calculates free memory on RHEL.

################################################################################
# This entry specifies the preferred calculation method (Linux only) for free memory.
#
# Syntax:
# linux_freemem_include method [method] (Linux only)
#
# Description:
# <method> can be one or both of:
# buffers = include system buffers in the free memory calculation
# cached = include disk cached memory in the free memory calculation
#
# Example:
# linux_freemem_include buffers cached (Linux only)

Here is an example of a free memory calculation based on cat /proc/meminfo output:

 

MemTotal: 40396260 kB
MemFree : 84592 kB
Buffers : 380908 kB
Cached  : 3817392 kB

MemFree: 84592kB + Buffers:380908kB + Cached:3817392kB = 4282892 (memfree)

 memfree 
-------- x 100  = Mem Used %
  total

So,

4282892/40396260 x 100 = 10.60%

The server is therefore only using 10.60% of available memory based on the above output.

Additional Information

Broadcom KB : How to do a bulk update of CA SystemEDGE Agents on Red Hat to include buffers + cached as part of the Free Memory calculation from VAIM