On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 10:46 AM, Edwin Zoeller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> check_ram -n -w 20MB -c 10MB ( the system has 8GB installed), results > display 30MB free (am I doing this right?) > > Other admins here are disputing the results and claim that Linux buffers all > the memory and gives what it needs. I don't know for fact it this is true. I > have also run top, free and ps -eo checking on memory size, all give back > the same results as the Nagios plugin. Is this plugin with the option chosen > giving real memory results or bogus results. > > My question, in desperation, can anyone explain in very simple terms how > Linux memory works? Also how are you monitoring memory, using what command > and how it is configured etc. If you look at the output of free -m, you can see how the memory is used. Your admins are pretty much correct. All available memory will be filled with cached information, so that things run faster and less disk access is required (since disk is SLOW compared to ram). The output from free -m will show you how this works. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]$ free -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 4055 3955 99 0 189 3437 -/+ buffers/cache: 327 3727 Swap: 1027 0 1026 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]$ Take your used memory, minus the cached memory, and the result is how much ram you're actually *using* in the real sense of the word. -- During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. George Orwell ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Nagios-users mailing list Nagios-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-users ::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and OS when reporting any issue. ::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent to /dev/null