Identity Suite Unreachable Due to "Cannot Allocate Memory" Error

Products

• CA Identity Suite
• CA Identity Manager

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to connect to an Identity Suite machine via SSH (e.g., PuTTY), users may encounter a "cannot allocate memory" error. This error indicates that the operating system has exhausted its available memory and is unable to spawn the shell process required for the SSH session. This article outlines the steps to diagnose and resolve memory exhaustion on the host.

Environment

Identity Manager 14.x

Cause

The error is triggered when the system reaches 100% memory utilization. Common drivers include:

• Insufficient memory allocation for the current workload (e.g., following a change in performance tuning requirements).
• A memory leak within an application running on the appliance.
• Resource contention in the virtualized environment.

Resolution

To restore access and resolve the underlying memory exhaustion, perform the following troubleshooting steps:

1. System Reboot:
   • Request a restart of the virtual machine. A reboot releases cached memory and temporarily clears the state, which may allow you to regain SSH access.
2. Diagnose Memory Utilization:
   • Once access is restored, log in and use standard Linux utilities to identify the process consuming high memory.
   • Run top or htop to view real-time process utilization.
   • Run free -m to check total, used, and available RAM.
3. Adjust Resource Allocation:
   • If the application workload regularly consumes available RAM, coordinate with your infrastructure team to increase the provisioned memory for the virtual machine.
   • Ensure that the memory allocation accounts for the overhead required by performance-tuned applications.
4. Investigate Memory Leaks:
   • If memory usage continuously climbs to 100% over time, investigate the application logs (e.g., JBoss/WildFly logs) for potential memory leaks, which may require further application-level tuning or patch updates.