[Info-vax] system-f-vasfull problem on alpha vms 7.1

[Bob Gezelter]

Chris Casey wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I am having some performance issues and at the same time seeing the
> above errors when doing common functions such as sh dev/m. As yet my
> applications are not receiving these errors but they are seeing image
> activation times of 7 secs plus and increasing slowly.
>
> I have spent ages trying to see what is going wrong but have not been
> able to find too much about this error and its possible causes as all
> my searches find solutions that only seem to apply to vax vms.
>
> It takes about 80 days after a reboot for this issue to reappear and I
> only get a few days to look at it before being forced to reboot.
>
> I am assuming that it has something to do with some sort of memory
> laddering but am stuck as to how to track it much further than that. I
> have been around VMS for longer than I care to remember but have never
> had to get into the depths of memory issues like this before so am a
> bit stuck.
>
> Any pointers on where to start tackling or investigating this issue
> would be much appreciated as thus far I have gone around in circles.
>
> I am running Alpha VMS 7.1 on an Alpha 4100.
> The applications are DSM 7.1 based.
>
> Chris

Chris,

For a start, a copy of the SHOW MEMORY output would be useful.

Additional information can be gleaned from using ANALYZE/SYSTEM on the
running system. For a start, look for a process whose virtual size is
always trending larger (monotonically increasing).

>From past experiences, I have seen similar behavior on other systems
where the page files were getting filled. In those cases, image
activation (and for that matter, many other things) can be
dramatically slowed.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com