Memory maxing out on forum

[DreadsUK]

OK, so our server had to be rebooted the other morning because we'd maxed out the memory. This is the first time this has happened so im looking at whats best to be done.

The server hosts have suggested we upgrade to a bigger memory package.I am wondering if there are practical things i can do this end first.

Is there a way we can work out where most of the memory is going? Are there things that can be deleted that won't then return 404 errors?

Thanks

[Disco_Dave]

What host are you with?

[ozzy47]

Server and site specs would help also.

[DreadsUK]

Originally Posted by Disco_Dave

What host are you with?

Currently with Nimbus Hosting on the package: -

Whirlwind
1GB Memory
20GB Disk Space
100GB Bandwidth Transfer
Plesk 10 Domain License

[final kaoss]

Here you go dreads, I can recommend flipperhost to you. I've been using them for a couple of years and very satisfied.

FlipperHost – $6.99/month 2GB OpenVZ VPS

4 CPU Cores
2GB RAM
2GB vSwap
100GB Disk space
3TB Bandwidth
100Mbps uplink
1x IPv4 address
OpenVZ/SolusVM
$6.99/Month | Order

Or another great vps deal (which I've never used yet):

VPSDime High Memory
6GB RAM
30GB disk space
4 vCPU cores
2TB bandwidth
1Gbps uplink
1x IPv4 address
IPv6 in Dallas/LA
OpenVZ/Custom Panel
Dallas, New Jersey
Los Angeles
$7/month
Order here

Also there is a way to tell what's using up memory on linux but I forget the method atm. I'll post back if I find it.

Run the top command and you'll get results like this.

top - 11:23:34 up 2 days, 19:20,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 202 total,   1 running, 201 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,100.0%id,  0.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:  32940056k total, 19210460k used, 13729596k free,   182428k buffers
Swap:  2031608k total,        0k used,  2031608k free, 18688628k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                                        
32326 csxbot    15   0 12760 1168  812 R  0.3  0.0   0:00.02 top                                                             
    1 root      15   0 10368  700  584 S  0.0  0.0   0:02.17 init                                                            
    2 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0                                                     
    3 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0                                                     
    4 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                                                      
    5 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/1                                                     
    6 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/1                                                     
    7 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/1

[tpearl5]

Do you have any caching mechanism installed, like xcache? If not, do that and install vboptimize before you switch hosts.

And, yeah, see what is taking up memory like final kaoss mentioned. It's either mysql or apache.

[DreadsUK]

Originally Posted by final kaoss

Here you go dreads, I can recommend flipperhost to you. I've been using them for a couple of years and very satisfied.

FlipperHost ? $6.99/month 2GB OpenVZ VPS

4 CPU Cores
2GB RAM
2GB vSwap
100GB Disk space
3TB Bandwidth
100Mbps uplink
1x IPv4 address
OpenVZ/SolusVM
$6.99/Month | Order

Or another great vps deal (which I've never used yet):

VPSDime High Memory
6GB RAM
30GB disk space
4 vCPU cores
2TB bandwidth
1Gbps uplink
1x IPv4 address
IPv6 in Dallas/LA
OpenVZ/Custom Panel
Dallas, New Jersey
Los Angeles
$7/month
Order here

Thanks mate, thats really helpful. Gonna take a look at those. clearly better specs. My only concern is we are uk based and we'd be hosted in the states. Would this be an issue?

Originally Posted by final kaoss

Also there is a way to tell what's using up memory on linux but I forget the method atm. I'll post back if I find it.

Run the top command and you'll get results like this.

top - 11:23:34 up 2 days, 19:20,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 202 total,   1 running, 201 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,100.0%id,  0.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:  32940056k total, 19210460k used, 13729596k free,   182428k buffers
Swap:  2031608k total,        0k used,  2031608k free, 18688628k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                                        
32326 csxbot    15   0 12760 1168  812 R  0.3  0.0   0:00.02 top                                                             
    1 root      15   0 10368  700  584 S  0.0  0.0   0:02.17 init                                                            
    2 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0                                                     
    3 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0                                                     
    4 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                                                      
    5 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/1                                                     
    6 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/1                                                     
    7 root      RT  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/1

Where do i go to run this? never done this before or know what it is. Noob here

[Dave]

Originally Posted by DreadsUK

Thanks mate, thats really helpful. Gonna take a look at those. clearly better specs. My only concern is we are uk based and we'd be hosted in the states. Would this be an issue?



Where do i go to run this? never done this before or know what it is. Noob here

I believe the latency between UK and USA is somewhere between 50 and 100ms, so you can expect such delay added to your HTTP requests. Personally, I wouldn't buy a host based in USA when my customers are from UK.

[final kaoss]

This should be able to help you with it.
http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_top.htm

[Zachery]

Why do you think the server is maxing out its memory, and why does your host think that?