Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Adolf Belka]

Hi Arne and everyone,

In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.

I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.

I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).

Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?

Regards,
Adolf.

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Michael Tremer]

Hello Adolf,

Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.

However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).

I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.

Best,
-Michael

> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Arne and everyone,
> 
> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
> 
> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
> 
> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
> 
> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
> 
> Regards,
> Adolf.
> 

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Tim Zakharov]

Adolf,

If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab 
one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try 
installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and 
either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked 
nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system 
does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.

Tim

On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
> Hello Adolf,
>
> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>
> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>
> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.
>
> Best,
> -Michael
>
>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>
>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>
>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>
>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>
>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Adolf.
>>
>

-- 
Tim Zakharov
Systems Administrator
Quality Control Manager
S & Y Industries, Inc.
620.221.4001

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Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Adolf Belka]

Hi,

On 04/06/2025 20:25, Tim Zakharov wrote:
> Adolf,
> 
> If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.

Thanks for the suggestions Tim. Unfortunately didn't help. My oldest laptop turns out to have DDR2 and the SODIMM's are 2GB anyway.
My newest laptop has DDR4, so not usable.
My netbook does have DDR3 but with only a 2GB SODIMM.

> 
> Tim
> 
> On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
>> Hello Adolf,
>>
>> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>>
>> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>>
>> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.

I think you are right.

I am only using it as a Testing evaluation system and as a system to do bug development work on.

So I think I will just have to accept that the memory might be used up a lot and periodically it might go into swap use. I can live with that.

Regards,
Adolf.

>>
>> Best,
>> -Michael
>>
>>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>>
>>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>>
>>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>>
>>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>>
>>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Adolf.
>>>
>>
> 

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Michael Tremer]

Hello Adolf,

If the Prime appliance is not suitable for testing any more, I am sure we can find you something else.

What would you need?

-Michael

> On 5 Jun 2025, at 10:42, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> On 04/06/2025 20:25, Tim Zakharov wrote:
>> Adolf,
>> If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions Tim. Unfortunately didn't help. My oldest laptop turns out to have DDR2 and the SODIMM's are 2GB anyway.
> My newest laptop has DDR4, so not usable.
> My netbook does have DDR3 but with only a 2GB SODIMM.
> 
>> Tim
>> On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
>>> Hello Adolf,
>>> 
>>> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>>> 
>>> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>>> 
>>> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.
> 
> I think you are right.
> 
> I am only using it as a Testing evaluation system and as a system to do bug development work on.
> 
> So I think I will just have to accept that the memory might be used up a lot and periodically it might go into swap use. I can live with that.
> 
> Regards,
> Adolf.
> 
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> -Michael
>>> 
>>>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>>> 
>>>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>>> 
>>>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>>> 
>>>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>>> 
>>>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>>> 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Adolf.
>>>> 
>>> 
> 
> 

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Adolf Belka]

Hi Michael,

On 05/06/2025 12:42, Michael Tremer wrote:
> Hello Adolf,
> 
> If the Prime appliance is not suitable for testing any more, I am sure we can find you something else.

It can still be used for testing and even for some bug development. It is just that with the IPS enabled, that uses 1.4GB on its own so the memory usage is around 88% to 94%.

So doing something like a change to the IPS rulesets that are enabled ends up going into something like 20% swap usage and trying to access the Prime via SSH has ended up at 35% swap usage just now when I tested it.
The impact of the swap usage is just that everything ends up going very slow.

Disabling the IPS resolves the swap usage because the memory level is then down at 50% or less.

> 
> What would you need?

I don't really know. I find it good to be able to do testing on both vm and physical hardware and the definite benefit of the Prime is that it has a wifi connection so I can test out the hostapd element of IPFire, which I can't on the vm systems.

I have thought on and off about replacing my "production" old mini appliance with one of the new mini appliances and then I could use the old mini appliance for testing etc although it doesn't have a wifi connection.

Until I get to a point to getting the new mini appliance the Prime definitely is of benefit to my testing.

Maybe I use the vm systems for IPS e\valuations and disable it on the Prime. That would probably help with the memory and performance.
That's a good idea. I will give that a test out and see how things go.

Regards,
Adolf.

> 
> -Michael
> 
>> On 5 Jun 2025, at 10:42, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> On 04/06/2025 20:25, Tim Zakharov wrote:
>>> Adolf,
>>> If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.
>>
>> Thanks for the suggestions Tim. Unfortunately didn't help. My oldest laptop turns out to have DDR2 and the SODIMM's are 2GB anyway.
>> My newest laptop has DDR4, so not usable.
>> My netbook does have DDR3 but with only a 2GB SODIMM.
>>
>>> Tim
>>> On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
>>>> Hello Adolf,
>>>>
>>>> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>>>>
>>>> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>>>>
>>>> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.
>>
>> I think you are right.
>>
>> I am only using it as a Testing evaluation system and as a system to do bug development work on.
>>
>> So I think I will just have to accept that the memory might be used up a lot and periodically it might go into swap use. I can live with that.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Adolf.
>>
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> -Michael
>>>>
>>>>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>>>>
>>>>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Adolf.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
> 
> 

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Michael Tremer]

Hello,

> On 5 Jun 2025, at 12:55, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
> On 05/06/2025 12:42, Michael Tremer wrote:
>> Hello Adolf,
>> If the Prime appliance is not suitable for testing any more, I am sure we can find you something else.
> 
> It can still be used for testing and even for some bug development. It is just that with the IPS enabled, that uses 1.4GB on its own so the memory usage is around 88% to 94%.

I have noticed that Suricata has become very memory hungry recently, too. I think it is since we upgraded to version 7, but I did not verify this.

> So doing something like a change to the IPS rulesets that are enabled ends up going into something like 20% swap usage and trying to access the Prime via SSH has ended up at 35% swap usage just now when I tested it.
> The impact of the swap usage is just that everything ends up going very slow.

This appliance is already very slow and the disk-on-module is not super fast either. This is not fun to use.

> Disabling the IPS resolves the swap usage because the memory level is then down at 50% or less.
> 
>> What would you need?
> 
> I don't really know. I find it good to be able to do testing on both vm and physical hardware and the definite benefit of the Prime is that it has a wifi connection so I can test out the hostapd element of IPFire, which I can't on the vm systems.
> 
> I have thought on and off about replacing my "production" old mini appliance with one of the new mini appliances and then I could use the old mini appliance for testing etc although it doesn't have a wifi connection.

We can fix that. I am sure I have a spare WiFi module somewhere around. Are you using WiFi in your production appliance?

> Until I get to a point to getting the new mini appliance the Prime definitely is of benefit to my testing.
> 
> Maybe I use the vm systems for IPS e\valuations and disable it on the Prime. That would probably help with the memory and performance.
> That's a good idea. I will give that a test out and see how things go.

Best,
-Michael

> Regards,
> Adolf.
> 
>> -Michael
>>> On 5 Jun 2025, at 10:42, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> On 04/06/2025 20:25, Tim Zakharov wrote:
>>>> Adolf,
>>>> If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.
>>> 
>>> Thanks for the suggestions Tim. Unfortunately didn't help. My oldest laptop turns out to have DDR2 and the SODIMM's are 2GB anyway.
>>> My newest laptop has DDR4, so not usable.
>>> My netbook does have DDR3 but with only a 2GB SODIMM.
>>> 
>>>> Tim
>>>> On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
>>>>> Hello Adolf,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>>>>> 
>>>>> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>>>>> 
>>>>> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.
>>> 
>>> I think you are right.
>>> 
>>> I am only using it as a Testing evaluation system and as a system to do bug development work on.
>>> 
>>> So I think I will just have to accept that the memory might be used up a lot and periodically it might go into swap use. I can live with that.
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Adolf.
>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> -Michael
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Adolf.
>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
> 
> 

Re: Size of memory that can be used with old IPFire Prime systems

[Adolf Belka]

Hi Michael,

On 05/06/2025 19:54, Michael Tremer wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>> On 5 Jun 2025, at 12:55, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Michael,
>>
>> On 05/06/2025 12:42, Michael Tremer wrote:
>>> Hello Adolf,
>>> If the Prime appliance is not suitable for testing any more, I am sure we can find you something else.
>>
>> It can still be used for testing and even for some bug development. It is just that with the IPS enabled, that uses 1.4GB on its own so the memory usage is around 88% to 94%.
> 
> I have noticed that Suricata has become very memory hungry recently, too. I think it is since we upgraded to version 7, but I did not verify this.
> 
>> So doing something like a change to the IPS rulesets that are enabled ends up going into something like 20% swap usage and trying to access the Prime via SSH has ended up at 35% swap usage just now when I tested it.
>> The impact of the swap usage is just that everything ends up going very slow.
> 
> This appliance is already very slow and the disk-on-module is not super fast either. This is not fun to use.
> 
>> Disabling the IPS resolves the swap usage because the memory level is then down at 50% or less.
>>
>>> What would you need?
>>
>> I don't really know. I find it good to be able to do testing on both vm and physical hardware and the definite benefit of the Prime is that it has a wifi connection so I can test out the hostapd element of IPFire, which I can't on the vm systems.
>>
>> I have thought on and off about replacing my "production" old mini appliance with one of the new mini appliances and then I could use the old mini appliance for testing etc although it doesn't have a wifi connection.
> 
> We can fix that. I am sure I have a spare WiFi module somewhere around. Are you using WiFi in your production appliance?

I am using a couple of WAP's around the house for my wireless connection so no wifi module in the unit itself.

Regards,
Adolf.

> 
>> Until I get to a point to getting the new mini appliance the Prime definitely is of benefit to my testing.
>>
>> Maybe I use the vm systems for IPS e\valuations and disable it on the Prime. That would probably help with the memory and performance.
>> That's a good idea. I will give that a test out and see how things go.
> 
> Best,
> -Michael
> 
>> Regards,
>> Adolf.
>>
>>> -Michael
>>>> On 5 Jun 2025, at 10:42, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> On 04/06/2025 20:25, Tim Zakharov wrote:
>>>>> Adolf,
>>>>> If you have access to a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM (even if you temporarily grab one from an old laptop or borrow from a colleague), you could try installing it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the system booted up and either supported the full 4GB or limited it to 2.44GB, but worked nonetheless.  It won't hurt anything to try.  Worst case, the system does not power up until you replace the original SODIMM.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the suggestions Tim. Unfortunately didn't help. My oldest laptop turns out to have DDR2 and the SODIMM's are 2GB anyway.
>>>> My newest laptop has DDR4, so not usable.
>>>> My netbook does have DDR3 but with only a 2GB SODIMM.
>>>>
>>>>> Tim
>>>>> On 6/4/2025 1:18 PM, Michael Tremer wrote:
>>>>>> Hello Adolf,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hmm, this might be difficult. I remember that this processor was a little bit limited in how much RAM it supports.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> However, the Intel Ark says max. 2.44 GiB (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/58916/intel-atom-processor-n2600-1m-cache-1-6-ghz/specifications.html).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am not sure how to put this in, but generally that seems to be not much higher than two.
>>>>
>>>> I think you are right.
>>>>
>>>> I am only using it as a Testing evaluation system and as a system to do bug development work on.
>>>>
>>>> So I think I will just have to accept that the memory might be used up a lot and periodically it might go into swap use. I can live with that.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Adolf.
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>> -Michael
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 3 Jun 2025, at 20:15, Adolf Belka <adolf.belka@ipfire.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Arne and everyone,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In the monthly conf call I forgot to ask this question.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have an old IPFire Prime system which has a 2GB sodimm memory card installed. The memory is very close to fully utilised so that periodically the swap space gets used for memory.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I would like to buy some larger memory for it but I need to know if I can use 8GB cards with it or if it is limited to 4GB as the largest memory size that is usable (or worst case, that I have to stay with the 2GB card if that is the biggest supported).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anyone know what the max ram memory that can be supported by the Prime systems is?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>> Adolf.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>