1.8.4 Monitoring the memory resource

This subsection explains how to monitor the memory resource of a Podman environment.

Organization of this subsection

(1) Overview
(2) Monitoring examples

(1) Overview

In a Podman environment, multiple containers share the physical server's memory resources.

If the physical server does not have enough memory resources, swapping occurs, adversely affecting the performance of the physical server. By monitoring memory performance data, you can detect such performance deterioration in the physical server.

The following two records are used to monitor the memory resource. For details about records, see 5. Records.

PI_HMI record

This record is used to monitor the physical server's physical memory usage and other information.
PI_VMI record

This record is used to monitor the memory resources for container.

The following figure shows the range of performance data collected in the PI_HMI record and the PI_VMI record.

Figure 1‒81: Correspondence between records and data collection ranges

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(2) Monitoring examples

Using monitoring of a physical server on which the virtual environment is running as an example, this subsection explains the factors that cause insufficient memory resources and how to solve these problems. The following figure shows the items monitored here and the flow of actions to take.

Figure 1‒82: Monitored items and flow of actions

(a) Example of monitoring the memory usage rate of a physical server

You can monitor the memory usage rates of physical server in the Used % field of the PI_HMI record. If this value is large, the memory resources of the physical server are considered insufficient.

The figure below shows a monitoring example.

Figure 1‒83: Example of monitoring the memory resources usage rate

Monitoring template report to be checked: Host Memory Used

In this example, as the Used % field shows values between 80% and 100%, there might be a possibility that the physical server does not have enough memory resources.

In this case, reassess the memory assignment to the container. If the memory usage value does not improve even after the memory assignment has been reassessed, consider either adding memory resources to the physical server or adding another physical server.

(b) Example of monitoring the memory usage rate of a container

You can monitor the memory usage rates of containers in the Used % field of the PI_VMI record.

The figure below shows a monitoring example.

Figure 1‒84: Example of monitoring the memory usage rate

Monitoring template report to be checked: VM Memory Trend

In this example, the memory resource usage rate of container1 increases over time.

If there is a problem with container1, stop the container. If the problem persists, consider moving the container to a different physical server.

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