IBM Support

Guardium Unit Utilization shows sniffer memory usage is high on 64bit appliance. All other parameters are low.

Troubleshooting


Problem

In the Guardium Unit Utilization report the overall unit utilization of 64bit collectors is always reported as high. The sniffer memory parameter is high which causes the overall value to be high. All other parameters are low or medium.

Cause

For 64bit appliances the sniffer can use approximately 30% of total RAM. The Unit Utilization thresholds may not be set to appropriate values to reflect the actual memory usage of the sniffer.

Diagnosing The Problem

1. Calculate the amount of RAM available for the sniffer. This is approximately 30% of total RAM. To confirm the RAM on the appliance use cli :


    support show top memory

For example, if appliance has 24GB RAM. The sniffer can use approximately 7.2GB.

2. In the GUI -> Guardium Monitor -> Unit Utilization. Double click on the overall level and invoke the Unit Utilization details report.




Note the typical value of the Sniffer Memory column which is displayed in kilobytes.

3. In the GUI -> Guardium Monitor -> Unit Utilization -> Utilization thresholds pane check Threshold 1 and Threshold 2 for Sniffer Memory. This is displayed in kilobytes.

4. The below solution applies IF
  • The sniffer memory usage from 2. is higher than Threshold 2 from 3.
  • The sniffer memory usage from 2. is much lower than the memory available for the sniffer from 1.
Danger! Do not apply the change below unless you are sure the high sniffer memory is not caused by other problems. Ensure that other parameters in the Unit Utilization are low or medium.

Resolving The Problem

From GUI -> Guardium Monitor -> Unit Utilization -> Utilization thresholds pane. Double click on Sniffer Memory and Invoke "update_utilization_thresholds" to change the threshold values.

Setting Threshold 1 to 80% and Threshold 2 to 90% of the RAM available to the sniffer (calculated in 1. above) is a recommended starting point. The values can be changed if required.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSMPHH","label":"IBM Security Guardium"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Component":"Guardium Appliances","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF010","label":"HP-UX"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"},{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"}],"Version":"10.0;10.0.1;10.1;10.1.2;10.1.3;8.2;9.0;9.1;9.5","Edition":"All Editions","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB24","label":"Security Software"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
16 June 2018

UID

swg21973532

Page Feedback