Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Linux Memory Explanation

I'm going to use the linux command "free" in our example.

$free -m

2025 is your total memory. 1425 is used and 599 is free.
1425+599=2025

The most important line here is the "-/+ buffers/cache" which determines your physical memory and "Swap".

169 used and 1856 free. Total is 2025.

Swap:

"Linux divides its physical RAM (random access memory) into chucks of memory called pages. Swapping is the process whereby a page of memory is copied to the preconfigured space on the hard disk, called swap space, to free up that page of memory. The combined sizes of the physical memory and the swap space is the amount of virtual memory available."

- credits to Gary Sims on this link




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