From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon May 14 07:12:25 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 42B5E16A402 for ; Mon, 14 May 2007 07:12:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from redchin@gmail.com) Received: from wr-out-0506.google.com (wr-out-0506.google.com [64.233.184.239]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0392A13C46A for ; Mon, 14 May 2007 07:12:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from redchin@gmail.com) Received: by wr-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id 70so1520021wra for ; Mon, 14 May 2007 00:12:24 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=KNOAlvxpXJZtyu7ZYgNqFouhh/XZnHOdEtNfBMxyfNeCXjaP2loWcfQe0/NA8pK/3NSPYbv+rjG3gamVR+o7ddm/SyRzl3dnC7wuSspnec55hChOoqIh2nwig5p8yPyYabt5BAGCwRcWMq5oaSBOS1fXTuNUd9jn+XdpEC82WMM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=b3UjGR326npC8oSFC1Q2cgJbiNDABIFfE2W+RRfG5v3BFbT1148p9zMaoHg1woCm+JpEy0JYTRGckSdHplYPQxBWViEI69D0ssqMVvIzbeBBRs3v5OqIlNMB7KwW0af4QHx2XQqE+0KvVC4zVW7tjo/Upzz9+nhRuZuNQt1KJMo= Received: by 10.78.202.19 with SMTP id z19mr2177154huf.1179126743693; Mon, 14 May 2007 00:12:23 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.67.103.15 with HTTP; Mon, 14 May 2007 00:12:23 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <1d3ed48c0705140012v7ade1c8fo769999f87665df44@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 00:12:23 -0700 From: "Kevin Downey" To: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org List" In-Reply-To: <20070514070405.GA70600@xor.obsecurity.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <1d3ed48c0705132134t4a677c14kfca30c5ee10881f8@mail.gmail.com> <20070514070405.GA70600@xor.obsecurity.org> Subject: Re: mdconfig -t malloc limits X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 07:12:25 -0000 On 5/14/07, Kris Kennaway wrote: > On Sun, May 13, 2007 at 09:34:46PM -0700, Kevin Downey wrote: > > I am building a shiny new desktop, the only thing I don't have right > > now is the hard drive, so > > I have been booting a minimal system off a flash drive. The box has > > two gigs of ram. if I try to create a malloc backed md device bigger > > then 300mb(this is not the exact limit but it is between 300mb and > > 400mb) it fails. If I use -o reserve the mdconfig command fails and if > > I don't then when I try and use that space FreeBSD crashes. It seems > > like there should be enough unused memory to create a 1gb malloc > > backed md. > > > > I have no swap because the only drive is a flash drive. > > / is mounted read only. > > /tmp and /var are 124mb malloc backed md devices > > > > What is the deal? Is this some tunable limit? Should I fire up memtest? > > See the manpage, or the archives for extensive discussion. Bottom > line: you almost certain don't want to use malloc backing, but instead > swap backing. > > Kris > using: mdconfig -a -t swap -s 500m -o reserve I get: mdconfig: ioctl(/dev/mdctl): Numerical argument out of domain in fact I get the same message no matter what size I pick. I had assumed that since I don't have a swap partition setup that using a backing method called 'swap' wasn't a good idea. -- "The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred." G. B. Shaw www.thelastcitadel.com