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Chris Hall

Principal Technical Consultant

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Quick Post: Host Memory Status Alarm

A quick post along the lines of “I know how to check this when running VMware ESXi, but how do I check it when running Nutanix AHV?”

This post was prompted when I found this earlier after logging into vSphere:

Comparison

Hmm. Lets look deeper at the alarm:

Comparison

Next, let’s check the hardware via the lights out card, in this case a Dell iDRAC:

Comparison

DIMM B3: Correctable Memory Error Log Limit Reached

OK, looks like a faulty memory module.

The $1M question: How do I find out more about the faulty memory module so that I can order a replacement? Servers can be notoriously fussy when it comes to memory.

Overview

The VMware ESXi Way

According to Broadcom KB-311437, the command to use via an SSH session to ESXi is:

smbiosDump

Lets see:

Comparison

 Memory Device (Type 17): #4366
    Location: "B3"
    Manufacturer: "00CE00B300CE"
    Serial: "400CB3CF"
    Asset Tag: "00150730"
    Part Number: "M393A2G40DB0-CPB"
    Memory Array: #4096
    Form Factor: 0x09 (DIMM)
    Type: 0x1a (DDR4)
    Type Detail: 0x2080 (Synchronous, Registered)
    Data Width: 64 bits (+8 ECC bits)
    Size: 16 GB
    Max. Speed: 2133 MT/s
    Rank: 2
    Configured Speed: 2133 MT/s
    Min. Voltage: 1200 mV
    Max. Voltage: 1200 mV
    Configured Voltage: 1200 mV

Perfect. Putting M393A2G40DB0-CPB in to the usual suspects (ebay, Amazon) £12 later and away we go.

The Nutanix AHV Way

So how can I get the equivalent information from Nutanix AHV?

Well, KB-7084 has us covered. This time we need to open an SSH to our node’s Control VM (CVM) and issue the following command:

ncc hardware_info show_hardware_info

Lets see:

Comparison

   | Location                      |   A3                                                             |
   | Bank connection               |   Not Specified                                                  |
   | Capable speed                 |   2133.000000 MHz                                                |
   | Current speed                 |   2133 MHz                                                       |
   | Installed size                |   32768 MB                                                       |
   | Manufacturer                  |   00CE00B300CE                                                   |
   | Product part number           |   M386A4G40DM0-CPB                                               |
   | Serial number                 |   398ECC24                                                       |
   | Type                          |   DDR4

Nice! I must have been feeling flush fitting my AHV server with 32GB modules!!

-Chris