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OTEL-030: memory_limiter limit_percentage outside safe range (20–90%)

Severity: warn (advisory)

Rule Details​

Below 20%, the limiter refuses work while the vast majority of the allocated memory sits idle — you are paying for capacity you never use. Above 90%, there is so little headroom between the soft ceiling and the container's cgroup limit that a brief allocation spike (Go's garbage collector lagging, a large incoming batch) can push the process into OOM-kill territory before the next check_interval tick fires.

This rule fires when limit_percentage < 20 or limit_percentage > 90.

Options​

FieldConstraint
limit_percentageShould be between 20 and 90 inclusive

Examples​

Avoid
processors:
  memory_limiter:
    check_interval: 5s
    limit_percentage: 95             # too close to the hard limit
Prefer
processors:
  memory_limiter:
    check_interval: 5s
    limit_percentage: 80
    spike_limit_percentage: 25

When Not To Use It​

A Collector with tightly measured allocations and a very short check_interval may run safely above 90%. Verify with load tests before disabling.

  • OTEL-001 — memory_limiter processor must be configured
  • OTEL-027 — memory_limiter check_interval is 0 or unset
  • OTEL-028 — spike_limit_mib >= limit_mib
  • OTEL-029 — neither limit_mib nor limit_percentage set

Version​

Available since augur v0.1.0.

Further Reading​

Resources​