Info

License: Free - No license required. Available in all tiers.

Memory Probe¶

The Memory probe monitors system memory and swap usage across all major operating systems, providing comprehensive metrics for physical memory, cache, buffers, and page file utilization.

Quick Start¶

Basic Configuration¶

probes:
  - name: memory
    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 30  # Collection interval in seconds (default: 30)

Minimal Configuration¶

probes:
  - name: memory
    type: memory
    params: {}

The Memory probe requires no mandatory parameters and works out-of-the-box with default settings.

Supported Platforms¶

Windows: Windows Server 2012+ / Windows 10+
Linux: All modern distributions (Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS, Debian, etc.)
macOS: macOS 10.13+
BSD: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD

Platform-specific metrics are automatically detected and collected based on the operating system.

Key Metrics Summary¶

Cross-Platform Metrics¶

Metric	Description	Available On
`memory_total`	Total physical memory (bytes)	All platforms
`memory_available`	Available memory for applications (bytes)	All platforms
`memory_used_percent`	Memory usage percentage (0-100%)	All platforms
`swap_total`	Total swap space (bytes)	All platforms
`swap_used`	Used swap space (bytes)	All platforms
`swap_used_percent`	Swap usage percentage (0-100%)	All platforms

Unix/Linux/macOS Specific¶

Metric	Description
`memory_used`	Actively used memory (bytes)
`memory_free`	Completely unused memory (bytes)
`memory_cached`	Page cache memory (bytes)
`memory_buffers`	Kernel buffer memory (bytes)
`swap_free`	Available swap space (bytes)

Windows Specific¶

Metric	Description
`memory_committed`	Committed (virtual) memory (bytes)
`memory_modified_page_list`	Modified pages waiting to be written (bytes)
`memory_nonpaged_pool`	Non-pageable kernel memory (bytes)
`memory_paged_pool`	Pageable kernel memory (bytes)
`memory_cache`	System cache memory (bytes)
`memory_page_faults`	Page faults per second
`memory_pages_input`	Pages read from disk per second
`memory_pages_output`	Pages written to disk per second
`pagefile_usage`	Page file usage percentage
`pagefile_usage_peak`	Peak page file usage percentage

Configuration Parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`interval`	integer	`30`	Collection interval in seconds

Example Configurations¶

High-frequency monitoring (every 10 seconds):

probes:
  - name: memory
    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 10

Standard monitoring (every minute):

probes:
  - name: memory
    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 60

Monitoring Tool Integration¶

PRTG Network Monitor¶

Access memory metrics in PRTG JSON format:

# All memory metrics
curl http://localhost:8080/api/{agentkey}/prtg/metrics

# Configure PRTG HTTP Advanced Sensor:
# - URL: http://agent-host:8080/api/{agentkey}/prtg/metrics
# - Method: POST
# - Request body: {"probe": "memory"}

PRTG Channels Available: - Memory Available (bytes) - Memory Used (%) - Memory Total (bytes) - Swap Used (%) - Page Faults/sec (Windows) - Cache Memory (bytes)

Nagios¶

Access memory metrics in Nagios format:

# All memory metrics with performance data
curl http://localhost:8080/api/{agentkey}/nagios/metrics?probe=memory

# Example output:
# OK - Memory monitoring active | memory_used_percent=65.2%;80;90 swap_used_percent=12.5%;50;75

Nagios Performance Data: - memory_used_percent - Memory usage with 80% warning, 90% critical - swap_used_percent - Swap usage with 50% warning, 75% critical - memory_available - Available memory in bytes

Web Interface¶

View memory metrics in the built-in dashboard:

http://localhost:8080/web/{agentkey}/dashboard

Features: - Real-time memory usage visualization - Memory breakdown (used, cached, buffers, free) - Swap usage monitoring - Historical memory trends

Use Cases¶

Memory Leak Detection¶

Monitor memory usage over time to identify: - Gradual memory consumption increase - Applications not releasing memory - Kernel memory leaks - Cache growth patterns

Capacity Planning¶

Track memory trends to plan: - When to add more RAM - Application memory requirements - Virtual machine sizing - Container memory limits

Performance Optimization¶

Analyze memory usage to: - Identify memory-constrained applications - Optimize cache utilization - Reduce swap usage - Balance memory allocation

System Health Monitoring¶

Monitor memory health: - Available memory for applications - Swap activity (performance impact) - Page fault rates (Windows) - Memory pressure indicators

Troubleshooting¶

No Metrics Collected¶

Check probe status:

# View agent logs with memory probe debugging
./agent run --verbose --debug-modules probe.memory

Verify probe is enabled:

# Check configuration
cat agent-config.yaml | grep -A5 "name: memory"

Windows: PDH Counter Errors¶

Symptom: Error messages about Performance Data Helper (PDH) counters

Solution: 1. Verify Performance Counter service is running:

Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "PerfHost"}

Rebuild Performance Counters:
```
lodctr /R
```
Check Windows Event Log for PDH errors

Unix/Linux: Permission Denied¶

Symptom: Cannot read /proc/meminfo or system files

Solution: Run the agent with appropriate permissions:

# Option 1: Run as root
sudo ./agent run

# Option 2: Grant capabilities (Linux)
sudo setcap cap_sys_admin=eip ./agent

High Memory Usage from Agent¶

Symptom: Agent itself consuming significant memory

Solution: 1. Increase collection interval:

- name: memory
  type: memory
  params:
    interval: 60  # Collect every minute instead of 30 seconds

Check for memory leaks in other probes
Review system available memory

Missing Swap Metrics¶

Unix/Linux: Verify swap is configured:

# Check swap status
swapon --show

# View swap usage
free -h

Windows: Verify page file is configured:

# Check page file settings
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_PageFileUsage

Performance Considerations¶

Collection Overhead¶

The Memory probe has minimal overhead: - Windows: ~5ms per collection (PDH counters) - Unix/Linux: ~20ms per collection (gopsutil library) - macOS: ~15ms per collection (system calls)

Memory Usage¶

Typical memory footprint per collection: - Base probe: ~200 KB - Metrics storage: ~10 KB per collection - Example: 30-second interval = ~500 KB total

Recommended Intervals¶

Use Case	Interval	Reason
Real-time monitoring	10-15s	Detect rapid memory changes
Standard monitoring	30-60s	Balance accuracy and overhead
Long-term trending	120-300s	Reduce storage and overhead

Advanced Configuration¶

Multi-Instance Monitoring¶

Monitor memory with different collection frequencies:

probes:
  - name: memory_realtime
    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 10

  - name: memory_trending
    type: memory

    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 300

Note: This will create duplicate metrics. Use unique probe names for different collection intervals.

Integration with Other Probes¶

Correlate memory metrics with other system metrics:

probes:
  - name: cpu
    type: cpu
    params:
      interval: 30

  - name: memory
    type: memory

    type: memory
    params:
      interval: 30

  - name: logicaldisk
    type: logicaldisk
    params:
      interval: 60

This provides comprehensive system monitoring with aligned collection intervals.

Authentication¶

The Memory probe requires no authentication as it collects local system metrics only.

Requirements¶

Windows¶

Windows Server 2012+ or Windows 10+
Performance Counter service enabled
No special permissions required (runs as service account)

Linux/Unix/macOS¶

Read access to /proc/meminfo (Linux)
Read access to /proc/vmstat (Linux)
System information APIs (macOS, BSD)

Network¶

No network access required (local metrics only)
HTTP strategy required for remote access to metrics