Monitor memory usage via harvest

[LORENZO_CONTI]

Hello,

does anybody knows if it's possibile to monitor RAM usage via harvest? 

Thank you 

Lorenzo

[niels]

Hi Lorenzo,

I don't know if Harvest has access to counters specific to RAM.

But may I ask what the intention is by monitoring controller RAM?

Any memory not actively consumed by ONTAP itself is used as cache for client data. Hence the RAM usage will optimally be 100%, all the time.

regards, Niels

[LORENZO_CONTI]

Hello Niels,

my question is related to bug https://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol?Type=Detail&Display=1275504

From what you wrote maybe monitoring ram usage could be a waste of time

Thank you

Lorenzo

[niels · Accepted solution]

Hi Lorenzo,

thanks for sharing this. Monitoring memory for such case would make sense, but only if the counters are granular enough to show what portion of RAM is used for which function. I don't know if the provided counters can deliver this information.

Kind regards, Niels

[paul_stejskal]

ONTAP is a closed system and 100% of RAM will always be used as needed. Free RAM is wasted RAM. This is a paradigm shift from other systems, but important to know.

The only time this might be an issue is if you have a low memory EMS alert. If you are worried about a specific bug, especially if you hit it, work with your technical case owner to identify how to monitor specifically for this scenario. But this is a corner case, not applicable for 99% of situations.