There is insufficient free host memory : unable start hpvm guest

[Vinod Udapudi]

# hpvmstatus
[Virtual Machines]
Virtual Machine Name VM #  OS Type State     #VCPUs #Devs #Nets Memory  Rmt Host
==================== ===== ======= ========= ====== ===== ===== ======= ========
tsmsrv1                  1 HPUX    On (OS)        1     2     1    2 GB        -
tsmsrv2                  5 HPUX    Off            1     0     0    2 GB        -

# hpvmstatus -s
                [HPVM Server System Resources]

        Processor speed = 1300 Mhz
        Total physical memory = 8172 Mbytes
        Total number of processors = 1
        Available memory = 172 Mbytes
        Available swap space = 6972 Mbytes
        Maximum vcpus for an HP-UX virtual machine = 1
        Maximum vcpus for a Windows virtual machine = 1
        Maximum vcpus for a Linux virtual machine = 1
        Maximum vcpus for an OpenVMS virtual machine = 1
        Available entitlement for a 1 way virtual machine = 1170 Mhz

I have 8 GB of memory and first VM is running with 2 GB. Why do I unable to start 2 nd VM.

# hpvmstart -P tsmsrv2
HPVM guest tsmsrv2 configuration problems:
    Warning 1: There is insufficient free host memory for this guest (43 MB available, max guest allowed 40 MB).
These problems may prevent HPVM guest tsmsrv2 from starting.
hpvmstart: Unable to continue.

Please help me to fix this .

Regards

Vinod

[Vinod Udapudi]

From HOST

# swapinfo -atm
             Mb      Mb      Mb   PCT  START/      Mb
TYPE      AVAIL    USED    FREE  USED   LIMIT RESERVE  PRI  NAME
dev        8192       0    8192    0%       0       -    1  /dev/vg00/lvol2
reserve       -    1146   -1146
memory     7772    3512    4260   45%
total     15964    4658   11306   29%       -       0    -

From GUEST

# swapinfo -atm
             Mb      Mb      Mb   PCT  START/      Mb
TYPE      AVAIL    USED    FREE  USED   LIMIT RESERVE  PRI  NAME
dev        4096       0    4096    0%       0       -    1  /dev/vg00/lvol2
reserve       -    1246   -1246
memory     1943     757    1186   39%
total      6039    2003    4036   33%       -       0    -

[Eric SAUBIGNAC · Accepted solution]

Bonjour,

Assuming you are working with HPVM 4.3, you can allocate, in theory, a little more than 5 GB to the VM guests if the host has 8 GB of RAM (you will find the  rules to compute available memory to VM guests in the installation guide of HPVM). My own approach is to decrease the theorical available memory by 2 or 4 GB to face such problems. So your problem, IMHO, isn't surprising.

Anyway, despite the fact that just one 2 GB guest is currently running,  hpvmstatus shows :

        Available memory = 172 Mbytes

though it should show something like 3 GB ...

Some tracks to analyze the problem :

- Do you have some others processes that run on the VM host and consume memory ?

- What is the result of available memory if you stop all the VMs ?

- Are the host's kernel parameters correctly configured ? Following are parameters from a HPVM 4.3 host :

        tunable base_pagesize   64
        tunable filecache_max   1%
        tunable filecache_min   1%
        tunable lockable_mem_pct        99%
        tunable max_thread_proc 1200
        tunable maxdsiz_64bit   34359738368
        tunable ninode  1024
        tunable physpage_page_policy    1
        tunable vx_ninode       32768
        tunable vxfs_bc_bufhwm  64m
        tunable vxfs_ifree_timelag      -1

- Did you activate dynamic memory for those VMs ? Do you have the same behaviour if you deactivate it on each VM with hpvmmodify -x ram_dyn_type=none -P <VmName> ?

- And finally, always the same question : are all requested patches installed on the VM host and the VM guests (check release notes) ?

Eric

[Vinod Udapudi]

I installed glance and came to know that more than 3 G memory was with filcache_max. I reduced to 1%. Problem solved.

now, 1. How do I verify my HPUX guests are configured without any problems?

2. From which link do I need to download latest patches and libs for HP UX guest and host.

3. From which command I need to check which version of HPVM I am using ?

Thanks again

Vinod

[Dennis Handly]

>2. From which link do I need to download latest patches and libs for HP UX guest and host?

Patches are on the HPSC: http://www.hp.com/go/hpsc

But some new HPVM functionality must come from 11.31 Updates.

http://www.hp.com/go/hpux

[Eric SAUBIGNAC]

Nice if problem is solved :-)

1. How do I verify my HPUX guests are configured without any problems?

Well, eternal problem : in computing you can't never be sure that there is no problem. Only problems are sure ... ;-)

Anyway, release notes @

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02752983/c02752983.pdf

and installation and configuration guide @

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02793352/c02793352.pdf

are THE starting points. You will find best pratices, matrix of supported configurations, and so on.

More generally all docs and white papers @

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodClassId=10008&contentType=SupportManual&docIndexId=64255&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=4146186

2. From which link do I need to download latest patches and libs for HP UX guest and host

See Dennis's answer.

Just to clarify : you will not find any new feature and enhancement in patches. Or very few. So cheking for updated software is a good idea.

Besides the URL pointed by Dennis to update the whole HP-UX OS, you can also update some individual products @ http://software.hp.com. For example LVM exists in a April 2011 release. You will also find some updates around FC drivers, Ethernet drivers and so on ...

3. From which command I need to check which version of HPVM I am using ?

hpvminfo -v, from the host or the guest ... if it is correctly installed.

swlist can also gives some usefull informations.

Eric

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

You should also consider updating the OE on the host, to take advantage of new networking and i/o subystmes (and many other) not available through QPK installation.

SEP

[nice_nidhi]

Hi

I am also facing the same issue while starting a virtual machine having 4GB of RAM, created on B.11.31 running on BL860c

Below is the error I am getting

#hpvmstart -P vguest1
HPVM guest vguest1 configuration problems:
    Warning 1: There is insufficient free host memory for this guest (4179 MB available, max guest allowed 3833 MB).
These problems may prevent HPVM guest vguest1 from starting.
hpvmstart: Unable to continue

This VM is having

[Virtual CPU Details]
#vCPUs Entitlement Maximum
====== =========== =======
     2       20.0%  100.0%

[Memory Details]
Total    Reserved
Memory   Memory
=======  ========
   4 GB     64 MB

Please help me on this

[Stephan.]

Hi,

first open a new thread instead of using an old one might get you more attention.

Regarding your problem, the physical memory required for VMs is the sum of sufficient memory for its operating system and workload plus an additional 8.0 to 8.3% of the VM‟s memory

Check http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02157777/c02157777.pdf for the memory configuration rules.