All,
We have a FC1 system running kernel 2.4.22-1.2115.nptl and kde3
configured as a backup server. The machine has 384MB ram.
We have been observing the total memory usage of the system. If we let
it run without reboot for days then we see the memory usage (as shown by
top) keeps increasing steadily. At the end of the week, it barely has
8MB of "free" memory, rest all is used up. But "top" does not show who
is using the rest of 376MB. The total of top 20 program's memory usage
does not come anywhere close to 376MB. If we reboot the machine then memory usage drops to "acceptable" values
of around 150MB.
Below is the output of chkconfig listing. The machine runs at level 5.
Any insight from experts would be appreciated.
1) What does free -m tell you?
2) Is your box swapping? (run 'vmstat 1' and if si and so numbers are non zero)
3) The linux 2.4 kernel uses as much memory as it can and usually most of that memory is for caches...as free -m will tell you, you do not have to worry since cache memory is reduced immediately when programs need memory.
