qvm-create-default-dvm running out of space

[Joonas Lehtonen]

Hi,

when trying to recreate the dvm after the latest torbrowser update I get:

qvm-create-default-dvm whonix-ws

[...]
DVM savefile created successfully.
cp: error writing '/dev/shm/qubes/current-savefile': No space left on device


And DVM starting fails after that obviously.

Do I have to resize /tmp to work around that problem? (2GB by default)

thanks,
Joonas

[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

I haven't encountered this before, but it sounds like the Tor Browser
update might've pushed you over the default 2 GB size limit. Maybe try
increasing the size of your DVM template?

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org

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[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 03:01:09AM -0800, Andrew David Wong wrote:
> On 2016-12-15 01:40, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > when trying to recreate the dvm after the latest torbrowser update I get:
> >
> > qvm-create-default-dvm whonix-ws
> >
> > [...]
> > DVM savefile created successfully.
> > cp: error writing '/dev/shm/qubes/current-savefile': No space left on device
> >
> >
> > And DVM starting fails after that obviously.
> >
> > Do I have to resize /tmp to work around that problem? (2GB by default)
> >
> > thanks,
> > Joonas
> >
>
> I haven't encountered this before, but it sounds like the Tor Browser
> update might've pushed you over the default 2 GB size limit. Maybe try
> increasing the size of your DVM template?

Storing savefile in /dev/shm (tmpfs - stored in RAM only) is an
optimization to load it faster. Normally this file takes about
300-400MB, so should be well below 2GB limit... It's size depends on
memory amount used in DispVM.

First I'd check what other files you have there and in /tmp - maybe some
old unused stuff. But if it still does not fit, you can disable this
optimization by:

touch /var/lib/qubes/dvmdata/dont-use-shm

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Joonas Lehtonen]

>> I haven't encountered this before, but it sounds like the Tor Browser
>> update might've pushed you over the default 2 GB size limit. Maybe try
>> increasing the size of your DVM template?
>
> Storing savefile in /dev/shm (tmpfs - stored in RAM only) is an
> optimization to load it faster. Normally this file takes about
> 300-400MB, so should be well below 2GB limit... It's size depends on
> memory amount used in DispVM.
>
> First I'd check what other files you have there and in /tmp - maybe some
> old unused stuff.

/tmp is basically empty (avail: 2GB)

I also tried to increase it to 3GB via
mount /tmp -o remount,size=3G

but that did not help.

When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB

I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Why that high? Have you disabled dynamic memory management for this VM?
Otherwise it needs to be only that high to allow booting the VM, until
dynamic memory management kicks in.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Joonas Lehtonen]

>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB
>
>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>
> Why that high?

since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it to much
but I just found out that something changes that value. (I did set it to
1000 it is now at >1500MB).

Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?

> Have you disabled dynamic memory management for this VM?

No

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 01:40:00PM +0000, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
>
> >> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB
> >
> >> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
> >
> > Why that high?
>
> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it to much
> but I just found out that something changes that value. (I did set it to
> 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>
> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?

Ah, I forgot it's adjusted at qvm-create-default-dvm call time. Based on
memory usage inside of VM. It looks something use that much memory in
Whonix-ws based DVM... Try running 'top' there (switch to sorting by
memory with '>' key).

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

On 2016-12-15 05:40, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
>
>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB
>>
>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>>
>> Why that high?
>
> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it to
> much but I just found out that something changes that value. (I did
> set it to 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>
> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
>

The default initial memory value should be 400 MB. At least, that's
what mine is.

>> Have you disabled dynamic memory management for this VM?
>
> No
>
>> Otherwise it needs to be only that high to allow booting the VM,
>> until dynamic memory management kicks in.
>
>

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
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[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

On 2016-12-15 05:45, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 01:40:00PM +0000, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
>
>>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says:
>>>> ~2800MB
>>>
>>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>>>
>>> Why that high?
>
>> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it
>> to much but I just found out that something changes that value.
>> (I did set it to 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>
>> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
>
> Ah, I forgot it's adjusted at qvm-create-default-dvm call time.
> Based on memory usage inside of VM.

I don't understand. Isn't the target TemplateVM shut down when
qvm-create-default-dvm is called? How could it be using any memory
while it's shut down?

> It looks something use that much memory in Whonix-ws based DVM...
> Try running 'top' there (switch to sorting by memory with '>'
> key).
>

- --

Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
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[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 05:49:18AM -0800, Andrew David Wong wrote:
> On 2016-12-15 05:45, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
> > On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 01:40:00PM +0000, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
> >
> >>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says:
> >>>> ~2800MB
> >>>
> >>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
> >>>
> >>> Why that high?
> >
> >> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it
> >> to much but I just found out that something changes that value.
> >> (I did set it to 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
> >
> >> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
> >
> > Ah, I forgot it's adjusted at qvm-create-default-dvm call time.
> > Based on memory usage inside of VM.
>
> I don't understand. Isn't the target TemplateVM shut down when
> qvm-create-default-dvm is called? How could it be using any memory
> while it's shut down?

It's about whonix-ws-dvm - it is started to create savefile out of it.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Joonas Lehtonen]

Andrew David Wong:

> I don't understand. Isn't the target TemplateVM shut down when
> qvm-create-default-dvm is called? How could it be using any memory
> while it's shut down?

This is not about the initial memory of the used templateVM (in this
case whonix-ws) but about whonix-ws-dvm. (qubes manger -> show interal VMs)

[Joonas Lehtonen]

>>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB
>>>
>>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>>>
>>> Why that high?
>
>> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it to much
>> but I just found out that something changes that value. (I did set it to
>> 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>
>> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
>
> Ah, I forgot it's adjusted at qvm-create-default-dvm call time. Based on
> memory usage inside of VM. It looks something use that much memory in
> Whonix-ws based DVM... Try running 'top' there (switch to sorting by
> memory with '>' key).

OK I played around some more and when setting initial memory to 400MB it
gets only increased to >420MB, that should be fine.

When starting a xterm-dvm 'top' says only 315MB memory are used.

I consider this as solved and I will reset it to 400MB from time to time.

[Andrew David Wong]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

On 12/15/16 05:58, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 05:49:18AM -0800, Andrew David Wong wrote:
>> On 2016-12-15 05:45, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
>>> On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 01:40:00PM +0000, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
>>>
>>>>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says:
>>>>>> ~2800MB
>>>>>
>>>>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>>>>>
>>>>> Why that high?
>>>
>>>> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it
>>>> to much but I just found out that something changes that value.
>>>> (I did set it to 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>>>
>>>> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
>>>
>>> Ah, I forgot it's adjusted at qvm-create-default-dvm call time.
>>> Based on memory usage inside of VM.
>
>> I don't understand. Isn't the target TemplateVM shut down when
>> qvm-create-default-dvm is called? How could it be using any memory
>> while it's shut down?
>
> It's about whonix-ws-dvm - it is started to create savefile out of it.
>

On 12/15/16 06:05, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
> This is not about the initial memory of the used templateVM (in this
> case whonix-ws) but about whonix-ws-dvm. (qubes manger -> show interal VMs)
>

Ok, but why would a DVM template require so much memory just upon
starting up? Is that expected for some reason?

- --
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org
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[entr0py]

Andrew David Wong:

> On 2016-12-15 05:40, Joonas Lehtonen wrote:
>
>>>> When I look at whonix-ws-dvm "initial memory" it says: ~2800MB
>>>
>>>> I changed that to 1000MB and everything works again.
>>>
>>> Why that high?
>
>> since its preset value was over 2800 I didn't want to reduce it to
>> much but I just found out that something changes that value. (I did
>> set it to 1000 it is now at >1500MB).
>
>> Is this a bug? Or can I disable this auto-adjustment?
>
>
> The default initial memory value should be 400 MB. At least, that's
> what mine is.
>
>>> Have you disabled dynamic memory management for this VM?
>
>> No
>
>>> Otherwise it needs to be only that high to allow booting the VM,
>>> until dynamic memory management kicks in.
>
>
>
>

For future reference, there was a similar report on Whonix.org last month. Initial memory adjusted to 3.4 GB. Some debug info included - unresolved.

https://forums.whonix.org/t/dvm-fails-to-start-after-whonix-update-dist-upgrade/3109/4