The tail of two systems and one hard drive. I install centos 5 on a HD while it is in a Compaq with 256Mb memory. After install, i am in graphics mode (Gnome) and top reports not quite all 256Mb used. Then I move the HD to a decTOP with 512Mb memory. I am running non-graphics (init 3). I ssh into the unit and top reports not quite all of that used..... So what ate up more than 256Mb memory (X is not running)? Perhaps there is something I did not clean up properly wrt the move.
> I install centos 5 on a HD while it is in a Compaq with 256Mb > memory. After install, i am in graphics mode (Gnome) and top > reports not quite all 256Mb used. > > Then I move the HD to a decTOP with 512Mb memory. I am running non- > graphics (init 3). I ssh into the unit and top reports not quite > all of that used..... > > So what ate up more than 256Mb memory (X is not running)? > > Perhaps there is something I did not clean up properly wrt the move.Have you done any I/O on the system? The memory could be in use by buffers. Please post the contents of /proc/meminfo. Your real free memory should be the sum of MemFree + Buffers + Cached. Alfred
On Wed, 2007-08-29 at 22:56 -0400, Robert Moskowitz wrote:> The tail of two systems and one hard drive. > > I install centos 5 on a HD while it is in a Compaq with 256Mb memory. > After install, i am in graphics mode (Gnome) and top reports not quite > all 256Mb used. > > Then I move the HD to a decTOP with 512Mb memory. I am running > non-graphics (init 3). I ssh into the unit and top reports not quite > all of that used..... > > So what ate up more than 256Mb memory (X is not running)? > > Perhaps there is something I did not clean up properly wrt the move.Linux differs from windows in that it tries to maximize memory usage. If applications are not using the available memory it will use most of the remainder for buffers and disk cache. The idea is to make the best use of the resource as possible ... if it's not being used by something then it's being wasted. There are situations where an application will use all available system memory and the system will start using swap (virtual memory) and then things will start to slow down. Using free as suggested by William is a good way to get an initial measurement as to if there is a problem or not> > > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >
Below is both results... William Warren wrote:> easier way....log in as root and type the word free to get a much > slimmer version of that information. If the numbers look odd(after > posting them here) then the more expansive option below is needed. > > Alfred von Campe wrote: >>> I install centos 5 on a HD while it is in a Compaq with 256Mb >>> memory. After install, i am in graphics mode (Gnome) and top reports >>> not quite all 256Mb used. >>> >>> Then I move the HD to a decTOP with 512Mb memory. I am running >>> non-graphics (init 3). I ssh into the unit and top reports not quite >>> all of that used..... >>> >>> So what ate up more than 256Mb memory (X is not running)? >>> >>> Perhaps there is something I did not clean up properly wrt the move. >> >> Have you done any I/O on the system? The memory could be in use by >> buffers. Please post the contents of /proc/meminfo. Your real free >> memory should be the sum of MemFree + Buffers + Cached.total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 495228 488440 6788 0 21404 310364 -/+ buffers/cache: 156672 338556 Swap: 1572856 0 1572856 MemTotal: 495228 kB MemFree: 12468 kB Buffers: 22328 kB Cached: 301152 kB SwapCached: 0 kB Active: 272448 kB Inactive: 182272 kB HighTotal: 0 kB HighFree: 0 kB LowTotal: 495228 kB LowFree: 12468 kB SwapTotal: 1572856 kB SwapFree: 1572856 kB Dirty: 21356 kB Writeback: 0 kB AnonPages: 131252 kB Mapped: 36676 kB Slab: 20784 kB PageTables: 3312 kB NFS_Unstable: 0 kB Bounce: 0 kB CommitLimit: 1820468 kB Committed_AS: 394416 kB VmallocTotal: 524280 kB VmallocUsed: 3080 kB VmallocChunk: 521072 kB HugePages_Total: 0 HugePages_Free: 0 HugePages_Rsvd: 0 Hugepagesize: 4096 kB
William Warren wrote:> your mahcine is fine. swap is at zero. You have most of your ram > being used by cache. This is also normal for a linux machine. If an > application needs to ram being used for file caching the kernel will > clear out that portion of cache and the program will have access to it.I finally figured that out this morning. I see how the free command gives me better insight to my computer than top. At least for how my memory is managing with my apps.> > Robert Moskowitz wrote: >> Below is both results... >> >> William Warren wrote: >>> easier way....log in as root and type the word free to get a much >>> slimmer version of that information. If the numbers look odd(after >>> posting them here) then the more expansive option below is needed. >>> >>> Alfred von Campe wrote: >>>>> I install centos 5 on a HD while it is in a Compaq with 256Mb >>>>> memory. After install, i am in graphics mode (Gnome) and top >>>>> reports not quite all 256Mb used. >>>>> >>>>> Then I move the HD to a decTOP with 512Mb memory. I am running >>>>> non-graphics (init 3). I ssh into the unit and top reports not >>>>> quite all of that used..... >>>>> >>>>> So what ate up more than 256Mb memory (X is not running)? >>>>> >>>>> Perhaps there is something I did not clean up properly wrt the move. >>>> >>>> Have you done any I/O on the system? The memory could be in use by >>>> buffers. Please post the contents of /proc/meminfo. Your real free >>>> memory should be the sum of MemFree + Buffers + Cached. >> total used free shared buffers cached >> Mem: 495228 488440 6788 0 21404 310364 >> -/+ buffers/cache: 156672 338556 >> Swap: 1572856 0 1572856 >> >> MemTotal: 495228 kB >> MemFree: 12468 kB >> Buffers: 22328 kB >> Cached: 301152 kB >> SwapCached: 0 kB >> Active: 272448 kB >> Inactive: 182272 kB >> HighTotal: 0 kB >> HighFree: 0 kB >> LowTotal: 495228 kB >> LowFree: 12468 kB >> SwapTotal: 1572856 kB >> SwapFree: 1572856 kB >> Dirty: 21356 kB >> Writeback: 0 kB >> AnonPages: 131252 kB >> Mapped: 36676 kB >> Slab: 20784 kB >> PageTables: 3312 kB >> NFS_Unstable: 0 kB >> Bounce: 0 kB >> CommitLimit: 1820468 kB >> Committed_AS: 394416 kB >> VmallocTotal: 524280 kB >> VmallocUsed: 3080 kB >> VmallocChunk: 521072 kB >> HugePages_Total: 0 >> HugePages_Free: 0 >> HugePages_Rsvd: 0 >> Hugepagesize: 4096 kB >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CentOS mailing list >> CentOS at centos.org >> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >> >> >