Michael McNamara

Nortel has pulled software release 3.7.3 for their Ethernet Switch 460/470s from their website due to a potential memory leak. I’ve included a few details of the bulletin below;

Background:
A memory leak condition that in some cases has been shown to impact the functionality of the switch has been identified in software release 3.7.3 for the Ethernet Switch 470. This memory leak condition can result in a loss of CLI access and may result in degradation of network operation. This issue has been observed at 2 customer sites and as a result Nortel
has taken the proactive measure to remove the image from the Nortel support portal. The issue is tracked under CRQ02014086

Analysis:
The issue is due to memory leak. Nortel is currently investigating the issue, but no root cause has yet been determined. Investigations are on going and a replacement code will be posted as soon as a resolution is available. The symptom of the issue may include the following: Unable to access CLI from the Menu Interface or very slow CLI response. Additionally the switch may exhibit connectivity problems from Device Manager (JDM). As the condition progresses the switch may become unmanageable which could result in stack instability. This stack instability could then lead to reduced functionality and disruption to network traffic. To recover the switch from the memory leak condition a reboot needs to be perfomed. To determine if your switch is impacted, if you monitor the memory usage of the switch you will notice that the available free memory continues to decrease. Memory usage can be monitored from the CLI using the ‘mem-show’ command. On affected networks the free-blocks displayed by the ’show-mem’ command will continue to decrease the longer the switch
is up.

ES470#mem-show
status bytes blocks avg block max block
——- ——— ——– ———- ———-
current
  free 4786688 147 32562 4743452 <<< number will keep decreasing
  alloc 3086928 7348 420 -
cumulative
  alloc 9979152 30147 331 -

You may also observce the following repeated messages on the local console (serial port) as additional indicators of the issue:

0×1e65734 (tLLDP): memPartAlloc: block too big – 1522 in partition 0×177e510.
0×1e65734 (tLLDP): memPartAlloc: block too big – 1522 in partition 0×177e510.
0×1e65734 (tLLDP): memPartAlloc: block too big – 1522 in partition 0×177e510.

You can find the entire bulletin here.

Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Nortel ERS 8600 Software 5.1, 5.1.1 Pulled
2. Nortel ES 460/470 Software 3.7.4 Released
3. Nortel ERS 8600 Software 5.1.1.1 Available
4. Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 Software Release v5.1.2.0
5. Nortel ERS 8600 Software 4.1.8.3 Available