Major symptoms which indicate lack of swap (Doc ID 1348494.1)

Last updated on OCTOBER 16, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

Numerous unrelated applications sporadically fail to start and/or create core files during start up, or processes fail randomly. System messages file may also log messages about being unable to fork processes or being unable to grow process stacks.

A pstack from the application core files created during start up do not show a main function and include function calls such as alloc like:

core 'core_pt_chmod_0_1_1312320180_4619' of 4619:      pt_chmod 12
 ff223ab8 _cerror  (b, 6000, 7, 80000302, ffffffff, 0) + 18
 ff2b6f08 initial_allocation (ff337280, 1, ff00, 677f4, 8, fc00) + 1c
 ff2b70cc lmalloc  (1c00, 1c84, 1cc1, 0, ff3d1388, 0) + a0
 ff2c8c44 __tls_static_mods (ff3f02a0, 200, 0, 677f4, ff3c4bb8, ff3f02a0) + 70
 ff3d1388 tls_statmod (ff3f418c, ff3f02a0, 235c0, ff2c8bd4, ff3f48e8, ff3f4440)+ 6c
 ff3c4bb8 setup    (46, 602, ff3f4310, 602, 0, c10040) + 153c
 ff3d3cb0 _setup   (10034, ffffffff, 0, ff3b0000, ffffffff, ffffffff) + 40c
 ff3b8620 _rt_boot (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) + 88
 00000000 ???????? (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)

##
## Note, control has not yet been transferred to the main function as main is not in the stack
## So this is during the library initialization which happens prior to the main function being called.
##

Longer running applications may contain a thread stack such as:

core 'core_java_16880_1_1312392816_22722' of 22722:    /app/jdk1.6.0_13/bin/sparcv9/java
...
...
-----------------  lwp# 50 / thread# 50  --------------------
ffffffff7eddb3d8 _lwp_kill (6, 0, ffffffff7ef49630, ffffffffffffffff, ffffffff7ef3e000, 0) + 8
ffffffff7ed4b780 abort (1, 1d8, ffffffff7e748a9c, 1f298c, 0, 0) + 118
ffffffff7e63a2e8 ???????? (1, 1, 2bc90, ffffffff7e9ae000, 373d6c, 2bc00)
ffffffff7e748a9c ???????? (ffffffff7ea0a778, 0, 1, ffffffff7ea15840, ffffffff7e9d9c48, ffffffff7e8873b3)
ffffffff7e1e3de8 JVM_handle_solaris_signal (a, ffffffff6ddef9f0, ffffffff6ddef710, 1, 1021a4800, ffffffff7ed3af60) + a40
ffffffff7edd7498 __sighndlr (a, ffffffff6ddef9f0, ffffffff6ddef710, ffffffff7e1e3378, 0, 9) + c
ffffffff7edcb02c call_user_handler (ffffffff7c508a00, ffffffff7c508a00, ffffffff6ddef710, c, 0, 0) + 3e0
ffffffff7edcb238 sigacthandler (0, ffffffff6ddef9f0, ffffffff6ddef710, ffffffff7c508a00, ffffffff7edd30a0, ffffffff7ef3e000) + 68
--- called from signal handler with signal 0 (SIGEXIT) ---
ffffffff7ed3af60 memset (ffffffff6ddefc60, ffffffff7edd716c, ffffffff68515a00, fffffffee3e00000, 100000, fffffffee3f00000) + 60
ffffffff7edd30a0 _thrp_create (c0, 100000, 0, fffffffee3e00000, c1, ffffffff6ddf00dc) + 220
ffffffff7edd3384 thr_create (0, 0, ffffffff7e639508, 106bbfc00, c1, 0) + 2c
ffffffff7e639b50 ???????? (106bbfc00, 3, 100000, c1, ffffffffffffffff, ffffffff7e9ae000)
ffffffff7e22c960 JVM_StartThread (106bbfc00, ffffffff6ddf0428, 1021a4800, ffffffff7d900000, ffffffff7e9ae000, 592e0) + 170
...
...

##
## Here, note that the signal was delivered during a memset immediately following a
## thr_create which created a thread.
##

Other generic stacks such as:
...|thr_panic|register_lock|...
...|abort|atom_init|internal_init|pool_conf_open|...
...|thr_panic|initial_allocation|...
...|thr_panic|queue_alloc|...
...|thr_panic|tsdalloc|...
...|thr_panic|rwl_entry|...

Certain thread stacks in specific applications such as:
svc.configd with ..|backend_panic|dispensary_handle_create|..
sstored with ...|die|giveup|...

Changes

Potentially running more applications or setting resource limits or a new setup.

Cause

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