Since the firmware update to 1.5.255 on my Vera2, the UI5 got very unresponsive after intense use. It went so far that I was no more able to access the Vera in any way and had to unplug it. Rebooting the device every couple of hours was my solution to keep the Vera running at an acceptable performance level.
I started thinking about the memory might be running out. Using the command “free” I then realized that even after a reboot the free memory left went below 1 mb on the vera. In Linux so called SWAP partitions are used to provide more memory to a system from a disk. Since the vera is running on linux and I already had a 30gb usb stick in the device I thought it might be nice to try that. (honestly it was the idea of a colleague) So we did, and the vera seems to use that additional space for memory:
The Vera2 is now running since a couple of days using that swap. The used swap stays pretty much stable, so there does not seem to be any memory leak just filling up everything. And the Vera has the same performance level ever since and does no more get slower over time or when heavily used. It really increased reliability.
What do you think about that? Anybody ever tried that? Anybody else having memory problems?! Interest in a HowTo?
Yes, I am having the same issues as you. I have moved logging to USB which helped but still become unresponsive after a while. I also have a problem with the ip camera plugin which I have just put a post up about in upgrading which I am seeking some answers too.
I am very interest in an “HowTo” and I would like to try this and see if it helps.
There were a few Beta uss trying this at one point. It’s Highly experimental though, and requires good Linux knowledge long term to diag problems that may occur over time.
USB memory has a limited # of write cycles so doing this, with active swapping might chew up sticks, the long term effect is not known… So normal disclaimers apply
Thanks @guessed for the response. I believe at this point it looks like the best option given the current memory usage as shown below. Between the cached memory and LuaUPnP, there is no working memory.
The only other option I have considered was trying to implement an automatic reboot command but I am not sure how I could implement this.
Mem: 30004K used, 536K free, 0K shrd, 472K buff, 7444K cached
CPU: 0% usr 1% sys 0% nic 98% idle 0% io 0% irq 0% sirq
Load average: 25.75 25.08 24.13 1/78 16234
PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %MEM %CPU COMMAND
16234 16227 root R 1440 5% 1% top
16226 1190 root S 1180 4% 0% /usr/sbin/dropbear -p 22 -P /var/run/
8032 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8098 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8234 8030 root S 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8235 8030 root S 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8031 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8233 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8093 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8099 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8217 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8224 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
16125 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8216 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8030 8028 root S 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8232 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8028 1381 root S 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8244 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
8218 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
15789 8030 root D 19112 63% 0% /usr/bin/LuaUPnP
[quote=“guessed, post:5, topic:169987”]Maybe. What’s not clear is why the LuaUPnP process is eating 19M of memory.
ie. a lot of devices, a particular plugin, memory leaks or just a larger UI5 baseline memory footprint.
If its a leak, for example, the that really should be chased down. Also, where is the rest of the memory being consumed (a full ps listing will tell)[/quote]
I haven’t used Linux for over 12 years now. I just had to manually reboot again and the LuaUPnP are there after reboot. They were only 14m. By rights the cache should be released as required and I have been watching this and itbdoes but did not get below what i previously sent. I used top as it is a neater display in real time.
Using the cameras does causes a spike and I have raised an separate string on their installation and plugin see .http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8885.0.html. Removing them did not make a difference to performance or release memory!
The energy app 3m.
Devices, about 15 lights, 3 hem100, 2 door sensors and three cameras. I had removed most plugin and devices but still had the same issues. I think I have a way to go before I could work out what is the issue. Does keep me out of the wife’s way…
I had downgraded to UI4 after my first attempt and it runs without issue. It will get there with Ui5.
Test 1 - might be reset factory setting and see what is the baseline is. I then have a choice to restore or rebuild. My only concern is losing the ability to establish the real root cause.
I have deconstructed and reconstructed and set up the Swat Patition and below are my comments
Update.
One by one I removed all devices and monitored the memory each step of the way and rebooting. Removing the Camera and Energy Apps made the significant difference but the system was still slow, with 15M still committed to LuaUPnP.
I then did the factory reset and this made a significant difference. The baseline was 8.5M and after adding all the devices it still less than 10*5M. However, all is not well yet after every item I added the system became slower even though there was significant memory available.
In addition, the first few items displayed correctly buttons and power etc; but, after several items this is not the case and I am just waiting to see if it recovers. It was at this point I added the swap file which did make the UI respond more quickly but the system was still not displaying correctly. I encountered similar the first time I upgraded to UI5 and it took several hours to display the UI correctly.
I then start to install the plugins “Apps” and as soon as I installed WakeupRamp which is a Binary Switch the rest of the UI that were binary switches displayed correctly. Memory still less than 10.5M.
I decided to create a Dimmer manually using D_DimmableLight1.xml and I_DimmableLight1.xml which installed correctly. This made the icon appear correctly on the other dimmer but still now slider. I reviewed the other dimmer and notice that the Impl was blank and I then inserted I_DimmableLight1.xml which rectified the issue. I repeated this for the remainder of the dimmer.
The memory now 11M and running fine. I deleted the test dimmer I previously created and once again, this caused the UI to go pair shape. I recreated the test dimmer again just so I can use them tonight. So something has gone wrong…. But the work around will do for today.
Moving On… Install Energy app. 14.5M (3.5M on install) and takes forever. Note: I am heading back up to my starting point.
I tried to install the camera using the Panasonic App but this was not successful. So revert to “Add Device” as I detailed in this string http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8885.0.html. The 3 camera took next to none resources. I did receive the same issue with the two different plugins.
So the only thing I haven’t done is set up any energy devices to be measured as it won’t let me at the moment. I leave it go for now and see if time really does heal all wounds.
Time did heal the issues with several issues overnight and it did not crash. So using the swap file does work.
The dimmer switches. Everyone that was not created correct - A new one was generated overnight and the old one would not function. What I draw from this is I needed to wait and they would have been build correctly in the end.
The 3-1 Sensor did not build correctly and I believe it is the same as above…
The system function but is still rather slow.
Adding any energy monitoring return the memory to where is was before. Back at start; however, the swap file prevent the crashes.
Logic now. UI5 in it beta state is not stable enough and I will downgrade and wait until it improves. I like some of the UI5 enhancement but if they do not work as designed or within a reasonable time, it is not worth the effort at this point.
@brientim: That’s a very interesting set of information you collected there. I have about 20 nodes in my network, including a 3in1 sensor from ezmotion. I had no problems at all with the devices after activating the swap partition.
My Vera2 with the swap partition is still running without any problems. As said before, it did not increase the performance/speed compared to a freshly rebooted vera, but it prevents the vera from getting slower and the UI5 stays accessible forever, not just for a day.
But the previous firmware release was much quicker and more reliable. I don’t want to go back to UI4 since I need my MiniMotes as scene-controllers, and that’s not possible with UI4. There are already multiple posts about slow vera’s since the last firmware update, so I hope somebody from MicasaVera will react to this.
@chixxi,
There is no doubt, IMO, the swap file is a very workable solution and I was happy to go through the hoops as a process of elimination and do some root cause analysis.
I really do like UI5; however, for me at the moment it just did not performance and the issues seem to be inconsistent across the user community.
Like the issue I raised about IP cameras see http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8885.msg57814.html#msg57814
Very evident was the energy app takes up a lot of resources!
One difference maybe I am using an Aeon Labs USB stick in Australia and not the embedded z-wave chip.
I have downgraded since the last post second time as indicate and one on the best this is… Even though I did the downgrade and factory reset and restore, the UI5 icons have remained! There are much better then UI4, so I am at least a little happier.
Do not get me wrong, I want UI5 but not at its current performance! I also love the ability of the MiniMotes and I used my with my EntherRain irrigation system.
MCV need to do a lot of work on this before the communications destroys and chance for them getting more of the market. They must remember there is always a newcomer willing to go the extra yard to make things work and they normally ride on the back on someone else’s failures.
I am planning to upgrade to Vera3 when the AU version is release in the next few but I would anticipate the overall system performance should be improved by then. They have not lost me yet but I am watching elsewhere for other product. Noting I already have Homeseer Pro and micro home server is less than a Vera.
I do thank you and other for the comments and hints along the ways. I think MCV need to drop their ears to the ground and do some listening before it is too late.
I have been having some serious issues with my Vera 2 slowing down recently. I am getting close to 70 devices now so I suppose that is to be expected!
At any rate I hooked up a 40GB usb hard drive to my vera and went through the steps to set up USB logging, and then created a swapfile on the drive. The entire process took about 5 minutes.
So far it seems to have helped a bit, but I’ll give it a few days and report back.
After stress testing my Vera for a few days I think I can honestly say that moving logs to a usb drive and creating a swapfile has made a big difference! As I mentioned in my last post I’m actually using a hard drive I had lying around rather than a usb disk.
Not only do things seem snappier in general but I’ve been able to run the Ergy light plugin without my Vera freezing up. In addition my cameras seem to work much better. I have a 720p webcam attached to a pogoplug running motion. Previously I was not able to watch streaming mjpeg video through Vera, but now it is working fine. I had previously thought it was just an incompatibility between motion and Vera.
My success here is really tempting me to upgrade to a Vera 3 with 4x more ram…
This thread inspired me to try out USB logging and swap again.
My Vera2 has become unbearably slow (again!).
When I first power cycle Vera, load averages are usually .04 to 1.0. It slowly goes up and up.
I plugged in the USB disk, clicked the box, and waited. And waited. And waited. I eventually got “Start installing required kernel modules and apps. Please wait…”
Load averages at one point were 28.04! :o
After over an hour, I rebooted. No USB disk, and the checkbox was unchecked. So I tried it again. This time, it’s been just under an hour, and my SSH session hasn’t responded for for 40 minutes.
[quote=“radarengineer, post:16, topic:169987”]@PurdueGuy, that is ugly :(. Does your usb drive show up when you do an lsusb?[/quote]It does. The command took about 20 seconds, and returned this:root@MiOS_XXXXX:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:6387 Alcor Micro Corp. Transcend JetFlash Flash Drive
root@MiOS_XXXXX:~#
Any thoughts? I didn’t try finding the script that enables USB logging yet, but I thought I might try to enable it myself line by line and see where things went haywire.
I’m also going to grab another USB drive, in case this one has issues.
The biggest problem I had setting these up related to “used” USB drives, particularly those that had been setup with FAT, or the freebie ones from Conferences.
Once I switches to clean, new, unformatted USB drives everything went fine.
[quote=“guessed, post:19, topic:169987”]The biggest problem I had setting these up related to “used” USB drives, particularly those that had been setup with FAT, or the freebie ones from Conferences.
Once I switches to clean, new, unformatted USB drives everything went fine.[/quote]Where do you get an unformatted one? Every one I have ever purchased/received usually has crap on it, which I immediately delete.
