Data Domain: boostfs plugin memory leak
Summary: BoostFS processes may consume excessive physical memory over time, particularly in environments with multiple mounts. This can lead to increased overall system memory usage and degraded system performance. ...
Symptoms
Gradual increase in memory usage after mounting BoostFS
BoostFS processes consuming a significant portion of system memory.
Higher memory utilization when multiple BoostFS mounts are configured.
System performance degradation over time
Memory usage appears to grow continuously without being released.
Cause
The issue is caused by a memory leak in third-party lockbox libraries integrated within BoostFS.
BoostFS uses a lockbox mechanism to securely store credentials for Data Domain storage units.
During operations such as mount and I/O, lockbox entries are repeatedly validated.
Each validation results in memory allocation by the lockbox library.
This allocated memory is not properly released, leading to a memory leak.
Over time and with multiple mounts, memory consumption grows significantly.
Impacted versions:
BoostFS 7.12 and earlier are known to be affected.
Resolution
Upgrade BoostFS to version 7.13 or later, where this issue has been addressed.
After upgrade, monitor memory usage to confirm stabilization.
If an immediate upgrade is not possible:
Minimize the number of concurrent BoostFS mounts where feasible.
Periodically restart BoostFS processes as a temporary mitigation.