Redhat 7.2 memory problems!

[spammy]

Hey,

Running a Redhat 7.2 install with Apache 1.3.20 and MySQL installed. No X Window system. All running on a P2 300 / 256MB RAM.

Here's the problem.
I'm fairly new to linux, and have been pleased with what i've got so far and found the command "free" the other day. After about 2 days of uptime my free memory has dropped from around 192MB out of the 256 to about 10MB!

I did a ps -aux and found apache and mysql to have themseleves running a fair few multiple instances (apache had 9 instances!).

Basically... How bad is this problem? I haven't noticed any HUGE slowdown, but I have been rebooting alot lately due to config changes etc. And more to the point... how can I fix it?

Sam

[Dark Ninja]

Actually, if you're running Apache and other servers, that's why you are low on memory. If you have swap space partitioned, you probably won't notice the loss of memory. However, unless you plan on running a web server, you don't need Apache. Same with every other server. If you aren't providing the service, uninstall the server. It'll free up a ton of mem.


Dark Ninja

[bdg1983]

Actually Linux uses free memory for caching and buffers and frees that memory if needed by applications. Very efficient.

But do as suggested and disable any services you don't need.

[spammy]

oh bollox :/

I do need the webserver i'm afraid... its running the forums and a few small user sites.

Anyway, guess the only choice is more memory!

Sam

[Dark Ninja]

Do you have a SWAP partition on your computer? You can "kind of" get more RAM without actually having to go out any buy it.


Dark Ninja

[speck]

You need to view the "free" command a little differently. Look at the "-/+ buffers/cache:" line to see how much memory is used and how much is free/cached/buffered. On my machine, free shows:

-/+ buffers/cache: 194888 317812

Which means 512MB total, ~195MB used, ~317MB free. Take a look at the buffers/cache line and see if that's better.

Speck

[Vagrant]

are you actually having any problems as a result? lag, errors, corruption? ..
memory unused is memory wasted, .. my 2cents ..
*vagrant

-256 is more than enough for what you are doing, i think ..