CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB

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Organization: Cisco Systems, Inc.

Last Updated: 2001-07-31

Category: Cisco Devices

Description: Monitors memory pool statistics on Cisco devices, reporting memory utilization for various memory types and supporting SNMP notifications when buffer thresholds change.

IPNetwork Monitor uses several OIDs from this MIB in network discovery and polling the applicable devices. Start monitoring CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor.

What Is CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB?

CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB is a widely used Cisco MIB for monitoring memory pool utilization across Cisco IOS/IOS-XE devices, tracking how much of each named memory pool (e.g., processor, I/O, or platform-specific pools) is in use versus free. It exposes per-pool current used/free byte counts, the largest contiguous free block, and a companion utilization table reporting rolling 1-minute (and related) utilization percentages, plus notification objects for buffer/memory threshold crossings. This MIB is a core software-health monitoring tool: sustained high memory-pool utilization or a shrinking largest-free-block value is a classic early indicator of memory leaks, fragmentation, or an impending device instability/crash. It depends on and is frequently deployed alongside CISCO-ENHANCED-MEMPOOL-MIB and the base CISCO-SMI enterprise structure, extending rather than replacing legacy Cisco memory monitoring. It is deployed on essentially all Cisco routers and switches, particularly in NOC monitoring where memory exhaustion tracked via CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB is treated as a leading indicator of device health problems.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

Cisco routers and switches (IOS/IOS-XE)

Monitoring Examples

An operator would poll ciscoMemoryPoolTable/ciscoMemoryPoolEntry, indexed by ciscoMemoryPoolType, to read ciscoMemoryPoolUsed, ciscoMemoryPoolFree, and ciscoMemoryPoolLargestFree for the Processor memory pool, watching for a shrinking largest-free value even while total free memory looks adequate -- a sign of fragmentation. ciscoMemoryPoolUtilizationTable/ciscoMemoryPoolUtilization1Min gives a rolling utilization percentage useful for graphing memory pressure trends over time and setting alert thresholds. A device generating ciscoMemoryPoolNotifications for a buffer pool would prompt immediate investigation, since sustained high memory pool usage often precedes a device crash or process restart.

What Can Be Monitored

memory pool used/free bytes
largest contiguous free memory block
1-minute memory utilization percentage
memory pool threshold notifications
per-pool type breakdown (processor/I-O/etc.)

Imported Objects

From CISCO-QOS-PIB-MIB

Percent

From CISCO-SMI

ciscoMgmt

OBJECT-IDENTITY

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Gauge32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE

From SNMPv2-TC

DisplayString
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using ciscoMemoryPoolUsed OID:

Select a Cisco router or switch (IOS/IOS-XE memory pools) as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type ciscoMemoryPoolUsed into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. Indicates the number of bytes from the memory pool that are currently in use by applications on the managed device. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a Gauge32-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if the counter increases sharply between polls relative to its normal baseline (in bytes), since an unexpected spike often reflects a real change in traffic or activity. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.

OIDs

OID symbolic	OID numeric	Type	Access	Description
ciscoMemoryPoolMIB	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48			MIB module for monitoring memory pools
ciscoMemoryPoolObjects	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1
ciscoMemoryPoolTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1		not-accessible	A table of memory pool monitoring entries.
ciscoMemoryPoolEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1		not-accessible	An entry in the memory pool monitoring table.
CIS ciscoMemoryPoolType	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.1	CiscoMemoryPoolTypes	not-accessible	The type of memory pool for which this entry contains information.
STR ciscoMemoryPoolName	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.2	DisplayString	read-only	A textual name assigned to the memory pool. This object is suitable for output to a human operator, and may also be used to distinguish among the various pool types, especially among dynamic pools.
I32 ciscoMemoryPoolAlternate	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.3	Integer32	read-only	Indicates whether or not this memory pool has an alternate pool configured. Alternate pools are used for fallback when the current pool runs out of memory. If an instance of this object has a value of zero, then this pool does not have an alternate. Otherwise the value of this object is the same as the value of ciscoMemoryPoolType of the alternate pool.
T/F ciscoMemoryPoolValid	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.4	TruthValue	read-only	Indicates whether or not the remaining objects in this entry contain accurate data. If an instance of this object has the value false (which in and of itself indicates an internal error condition), the values of the remaining objects in the conceptual row may contain inaccurate information (specifically, the reported values may be less than the actual values).
G32 ciscoMemoryPoolUsedEx	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.5	Gauge32	read-only	Indicates the number of bytes from the memory pool that are currently in use by applications on the managed device.
G32 ciscoMemoryPoolFree	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.6	Gauge32	read-only	Indicates the number of bytes from the memory pool that are currently unused on the managed device. Note that the sum of ciscoMemoryPoolUsed and ciscoMemoryPoolFree is the total amount of memory in the pool
G32 ciscoMemoryPoolLargestFree	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.1.1.7	Gauge32	read-only	Indicates the largest number of contiguous bytes from the memory pool that are currently unused on the managed device.
ciscoMemoryPoolUtilizationTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.2		not-accessible	A table of memory pool utilization entries. Each of the objects provides a general idea of how much of the memory pool has been used over a given period of time. It is determined as a weighted decaying average.
ciscoMemoryPoolUtilizationEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.2.1		not-accessible	An entry in the memory pool utilization table.
PER ciscoMemoryPoolUtilization1Min	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.2.1.1	Percent	read-only	This is the memory pool utilization for 1 minute.
PER ciscoMemoryPoolUtilization5Min	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.2.1.2	Percent	read-only	This is the memory pool utilization for 5 minutes.
PER ciscoMemoryPoolUtilization10Min	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.1.2.1.3	Percent	read-only	This is the memory pool utilization for 10 minutes.
ciscoMemoryPoolNotifications	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.2
ciscoMemoryPoolConformance	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3
ciscoMemoryPoolCompliances	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.1
ciscoMemoryPoolCompliance	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.1.1			The compliance statement for entities which implement the Cisco Memory Pool MIB
ciscoMemoryPoolComplianceRev1	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.1.2			The compliance statement for entities which implement the Cisco Memory Pool MIB
ciscoMemoryPoolGroups	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.2
ciscoMemoryPoolGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.2.1			A collection of objects providing memory pool monitoring.
ciscoMemoryPoolUtilizationGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.48.3.2.2			An optional group providing a collection of memory pool utilization objects.

RFC description

Cisco memory pool monitoring providing memory utilization statistics for different memory types in managed devices.

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