Junos OS

Hello,

We operate two MX204 routers in an EVPN/VXLAN setup, currently with around 6000 active IP addresses. The systems run fine overall, but we observe a daily increase in memory usage, eventually leading to swap usage when RAM is exhausted. Once swap is also full, we see log messages such as:

At this point, we experience issues like LACP timeouts and packet loss, which typically resolve themselves after 5–10 minutes. However, while swap usage clears, the memory remains full.

Upon investigation, we found that the "l2ald" process continuously consumes more memory; possibly indicating a memory leak. After a reboot, l2ald uses less than 1 GB, but after three days it exceeds 5 GB, even though there are no configuration changes or increases in IP/MAC addresses.

Both devices are running the latest recommended firmware, Junos 23.4R2-S4.11. We had the exact same issue with the previous version (23.4R2-S3.9), so we're unsure how to proceed. There is a newer Junos version available (24.4), but it is not yet officially recommended.

Has anyone else with MX204s experienced this? Would upgrading to 24.4 be advisable in this situation, or are there other workarounds?

kind regards

Hey,

Do you have a support contract? 

If yes, please open a case with JTAC, they are best placed to investigate and find what the problem is and which releases the PR is fixed.

If not try a newer release to see if the problem goes away after upgrade, 24.2R2-S1 would be my suggestion today. 24.4 only has R1, avoid R1 except for labs.

Thanks 

Hello,

We operate two MX204 routers in an EVPN/VXLAN setup, currently with around 6000 active IP addresses. The systems run fine overall, but we observe a daily increase in memory usage, eventually leading to swap usage when RAM is exhausted. Once swap is also full, we see log messages such as:

At this point, we experience issues like LACP timeouts and packet loss, which typically resolve themselves after 5–10 minutes. However, while swap usage clears, the memory remains full.

Upon investigation, we found that the "l2ald" process continuously consumes more memory; possibly indicating a memory leak. After a reboot, l2ald uses less than 1 GB, but after three days it exceeds 5 GB, even though there are no configuration changes or increases in IP/MAC addresses.

Both devices are running the latest recommended firmware, Junos 23.4R2-S4.11. We had the exact same issue with the previous version (23.4R2-S3.9), so we're unsure how to proceed. There is a newer Junos version available (24.4), but it is not yet officially recommended.

Has anyone else with MX204s experienced this? Would upgrading to 24.4 be advisable in this situation, or are there other workarounds?

kind regards