Question about VPS.

[Joshua]

I was looking at the memory used on the server.

I log into SSH, and I type in top to view the stats.

I find out that the server only has about 10 megs of memory free.
"Mem: 8211708k total, 8202484k used, 9224k free, 1621416k buffers"

I am only using 60% of my memory. I get 256Megs

which would mean that I should have at least 100megs of memory, but the server doesnt have enough. Is there something going on that i dont know about?

I just dont get. Unless of course PowerVPS does oversell.

I am not too familiar with the linux OS, but it seems to me they are overselling :-\


Joshua

[charles]

I was looking at the memory used on the server.

I log into SSH, and I type in top to view the stats.

I find out that the server only has about 10 megs of memory free.
"Mem: 8211708k total, 8202484k used, 9224k free, 1621416k buffers"


This is not your memory but the servers (you dont get 8G of RAM, sorry). Linux is doing its job and using al available memory for file caching etc. and this is perfectly normal, expected and desired.


I am only using 60% of my memory. I get 256Megs


which would mean that I should have at least 100megs of memory, but the server doesnt have enough. Is there something going on that i dont know about?

I just dont get. Unless of course PowerVPS does oversell.

I am not too familiar with the linux OS, but it seems to me they are overselling :-\


Joshua

Use the power panel to see what your memory allocation and use really are.

hth
charles

[Joshua]

OK, maybe you didnt understand. Dont I get 256 megs?????

If the server only has 10 megs left, and i have only used 60%(from powerpanel) then where is the 90megs that is supposed to be mine.

Do you understand now?

Joshua

[charles]

If the powerpanel says you are using 60% then you are using 60%, and you have 40% or 102M available to you.

The server has free memory. When its not needed it uses the available space to cache files etc, and when needed it flush those and provide it to you.

hth
charles

[Joshua]

Oh, and let me add. How did you get that i said i get 8GB of RAM? I said clearly i have 256megs of RAM. Not even close to what i said. I was showng the stats of how much was on the server.

In that stats, it says there is only 10 megs of ram left. Correct?
I only get 256Megs(like i said in my first post). Correct?
so, if 10 megs of ram is left. And i have only used 60% of my ram(This is found on powerpanel) then that would leave with more RAM on the server. Understand?

Maybe not, because you seem confused, sence you didnt even understand what i said before. so let me do the math for you.

256megs is mine. correct?
60% of 256megs is 153.6megs
256megs - 153.6megs(the amount i am using) = 102.4megs(the amount i should have left)

102.4megs should be how much megs of ram I have left on my part of the server. If only 10 megs of ram is left on the whole server, then it doesnt make any sense.

Do you get what i am trying to say now, or do i have to explain in another way. because it seems yu are not understanding.

Thanks,
Joshua

[Joshua]

Ok, thank you for clearing some of it up in your last post.

But, it seems like this "cache files etc" thing is taking up alot of memory! Is it suppose to take about alot, or am I just seeing things?

[charles]

As I said before this is perfectly normal. Please google about linux memory management if you dont believe me.

charles

[Joshua]

or is that what this "1GB Burst RAM" means? People can use up to 1GB of Burst RAM?

The reason why the memory is so low?

Please explain more. I just want a clearer understand on how you guys work, and how most companies work with their servers.

[Joshua]

As I said before this is perfectly normal. Please google about linux memory management if you dont believe me.

charles

I did some googleing up on this, but i could not find very much. I dont think i was going to the right places. I believe you, but i just didnt think you were understanding me, that's all :)

Joshua

[charles]

Google tells me this would be a good read for you.

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=175419

hth
charles

[Joshua]

Thank you very much, i wll look over this. I have read many books about networking and all sorts of stuff, but never read any on linux. I should also read books on this, so i can become more familar with it. Thanks again!

[Robert]

Also... regarding GUARANTEED vs BURST memory... for anyone who may read this thread and have questions regarding it:

Your GUARANTEED memory is available to you no matter what. Burst is the extra amount of memory you can go up to beyond your guarantee as long as it's available at the time.

Say for example... you start running a script that tries to brings your memory useage to 300MB. You will utilize your 250 guaranteed and 50 burst as long as the burst is available.

[Joshua]

It clears up alot of things. I would suggest anyone new to the Linus OS to view that. Because I was very puzzled, on where the Memory was!! :)

Regards,
Joshua

[Joshua]

Oh and just so I know if i understand it now.. here is what the server stats are:

Mem: 8211708k total, 8110524k used, 101184k free, 1433248k buffers
Swap: 10241428k total, 4415848k used, 5825580k free, 1327484k cached

Which means that 1327484k + 101184k is how much memory is available.
This means that 1428668k is available in RAM. That is around 1.5GB of RAM still free on the server. 1.3GB of RAM is used for Caching which makes use of the RAM so that the server can be actually faster.

Am i correct?

Joshua

[Robert]

Hi there,

The:
Mem: 8211708k total, 8110524k used, 101184k free, 1433248k buffers
Shows that there are 8 GB of ram on the node, with most of it loaded (for performance)

The:
Swap: 10241428k total, 4415848k used, 5825580k free, 1327484k cached
Shows there is approx 10MB of ram for the swap file.

This is for the ENTIRE HARDWARE NODE. Top/CPanel/etc cannot read memory for only your VPS. To see your memory limits, check your PowerPanel's Extended Resources. :)

[Joshua]

Ok, but you still didnt answer my question. but thanks anyway. oh and, i never say "MY VPS", i always say the "server stats ", which is shared by a bunch of people.

[Robert]

As far as what memory is exactly available, the only place to know that would be your PowerPanel. Look in the Extended Resources. It will tell you what your limits are and how close you are to them. The readings for memory inside of top are honestly useless. It shows what percentage is loaded, etc... but not what is actually being used right at that moment.

[Joshua]

What is the name in Powerpanel?