VM:ERROR: insufficient memory

[Mark Eubanks]

Can someone explain why I can start the work VM but when I start the personal I get the ERROR: insufficient mem . Even though the memory settings are the same

thanks

[cez...@gmail.com]

Den tirsdag den 5. september 2017 kl. 19.58.50 UTC skrev Mark Eubanks:

> On Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 12:06:28 PM UTC-4, Mark Eubanks wrote:
> > Can someone explain why I can start the work VM but when I start the personal I get the ERROR: insufficient mem . Even though the memory settings are the same
> >
> >
> > thanks
>

> Ok.. you can ignore my newb Qubes questions

Did you find out why?
If not, it's due to limited RAM on your system, if you have scarce amount, you need to jungle a bit to make sure you never run out.
I.e. on my 8GB laptop, I need to shutdown some AppVM's every now and then to make room for more memory for other AppVM's.
In contrast, on my 32GB RAM desktop, I never, ever, worry about RAM.

So basically, the less RAM you have, and the more RAM you need, the more you need to balance which AppVM you have running.

btw Mark, I noticed it isn't the first time, but give it a day or two for answers. While Qubes is getting more and more popular, there aren't too many people around here. It gets worse since Qubes has many different forums/IRC/mail-posts/etc. so among the Qubes users that are, many are spread out. It will often take time to get answers. So, no need to worry.

[Mark Eubanks]

On Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 12:06:28 PM UTC-4, Mark Eubanks wrote:

> Can someone explain why I can start the work VM but when I start the personal I get the ERROR: insufficient mem . Even though the memory settings are the same
>
>
> thanks

I have 16 gig of ram but if I do a free -m it only shows a total of 1058
used 364 free 26 . I'm not doing anything on any of the VM's its pretty much a new install and I can't open the personal vm .Anyone have any ideas

[cez...@gmail.com]

ah, you did this in Dom0 terminal right?
The reason is because Qubes attempts to automatically balance which AppVM gets more RAM than the other. If you right click on each AppVM in the Qubes Manager (Qubes 3.2), you can see the automatic memory setting under the Advanced tab, near the RAM amount fields.
So since each AppVM gets their fair share of the RAM portion, Dom0 will have less memory for itself. This might change dynamically, for example if you run a lot of AppVM's, the amount of RAM Dom0 has may shrink. Wnile not many AppVM's are running, or after a fresh boot, Dom0 should have more memory.
If you open the Qubes Manager in Qubes 3.2, you can see the allocated memory to Dom0 and each the VM's. If it isnt visible, then you can make it visible at the top in the "View" menu.

Also note that automatic memory dyanamics does not work if a VM has a PCI card passed through. So if you have any with automatic memory dynamics disabled, be careful you don't give it too much of your RAM resources. 16GB is a good amount, but it can still quickly run you if you have the wrong settings, or run unusual memory hungry and intensive programs.

[Mark Eubanks]

Yes, this was in Dom0 term

I tried lowering the mem usage per vm and it seem to take care of the problem but I rebooted and it was again not allowing any other vm's to start other Dom0 mem shows 1092 mb sys-net shows 401 mb, sys-firewall 151 mb ( I lowered it) sys-whonix, 151 mb ( which I lowered it as well) which comes no where close to 16 MEG
What's a good number to run the vm's at for mem min and max ? I'm just not sure whats taking up all the mem.

[cez...@gmail.com]

hmm odd, you shouldn't have memory issues with 16GB memory, unless you run something big, or way too many VM's.

Try run
'XL list'
in Dom0 terminal.

Grab a calculator, add up the "Mem" sizes of all the running VM's, see if it adds up to 16GB.

If it adds up, then you should be able to detect where your RAM is used in the 'xl list' as well.

Be careful with loweing the sys-firewall and sys-net memory though. Frankly I dont know if anything can happen, but I can't imagine it is a good thing if they run out of memory. It's probably better to keep them at the default values, just to be safe.

[Marke50]

"btw Mark, I noticed it isn't the first time, but give it a day or two for answers. While Qubes is getting more and more popular, there aren't too many people around here. It gets worse since Qubes has many different forums/IRC/mail-posts/etc. so among the Qubes users that are, many are spread out. It will often take time to get answers. So, no need to worry."

I will keep this in mind.

still looking at it .. it shouldn't be this hard

[Marke50]

This was as far as I can tell a physical mem problem. I believe this was resolved