[BlueOnyx:08367] Re: 5106 Vs 5107 (Memory usage)

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Wayne,

> I also wanted to note that on 5106 and Blue Quartz as well my memory usage
> was always very high,  even with a 2 GB machine it was always above 90 and
> 5106 is also doing the same thing.   I just assumed it used whatever
> memory was available.
> 
> 5107 was doing the same with memory until the last set of updates geared at
> addressing the CCE error.  Now it idles at about 38% under no load.

Memory usage under Linux is a complex topic. Linux tends to cache a lot of 
data to speed up things. And there is little reason to clean out old cache 
data unless you need more space to store new stuff. Because what you have 
cached can still be useful down the road. So Linux tends to claim and use 
almost all your RAM all the time. After all, empty RAM is wasted space. :o)

See: http://chrisjohnston.org/2009/why-on-linux-am-i-seeing-so-much-ram-usage

It's not the best article about the subject, but the one that I could find 
quickly enough.

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber