ECS: High Memory Load and Potential Performance Issues on ECS 3.6, ECS 3.7, and ECS 3.8

Summary: This article explains the causes of potential performance issues on ECS 3.6, ECS 3.7, and ECS 3.8, and how to remediate them.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Check out other resources

Symptoms

ECS encounters performance issues after upgrading to ECS 3.6, ECS 3.7, and ECS 3.8.

Cause

ECS 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8 releases have several new features. Sometimes, the new features may impact memory consumption and performance, depending on the ECS workload.
 
NOTE: For a full list of new features for each release, check the ECS Release Notes corresponding to the ECS version.

Resolution

ECS Engineering has implemented memory optimization fixes to address these potential issues.
  • STORAGE-33555: Improves the allocation of cached native memory which saves GB-level mem in critical services such as blobsvc, dataheadsvc so on
  • OBSDEF-22425 and OBSDEF-24689: Fixes an inefficient CPU and memory-intensive logic in a storage server when the disk response time is abnormally longer. It helps improve the CPU and memory utilization when there are hot or slow disks on the system.
It is recommended to upgrade to a code version which includes these memory optimization fixes:

For ECS 3.8.0.x and later:
  • ECS 3.8.0.3 General Availability (GA) and all newer code versions
  • ECS 3.8.0.2 General Patch 1 (GP1) and newer GPs
  • ECS 3.8.0.1 General Patch 2 (GP2) and newer GPs
For ECS 3.7.0.x:
  • ECS 3.7.0.6 General Availability (GA) and newer code versions for the rest of the 3.7.0.x family
  • ECS 3.7.0.5 General Patch 1 (GP1) and newer GPs
For ECS 3.6.2.x:
  • ECS 3.6.2.5 General Patch 1 (GP1) and newer GPs
NOTE:
  • General Patches (GPs) are built on top of the General Availability (GA) release
  • GPs are installed on the same Operating System build as the GA
  • All VDCs in the federation must be on the exact same patch
  • If you upgrade to any of the above versions, then you must ensure that your next version would also contain the fix. See this KB for future updates about other code versions with the fix

Affected Products

ECS, ECS Appliance, ECS Appliance Hardware Series, ECS Appliance Software with Encryption, ECS Appliance Software without Encryption, ECS Software, Elastic Cloud Storage
Article Properties
Article Number: 000212405
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 05 Oct 2023
Version:  9
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.