Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 08:57:42 +0200 (CEST) From: Paul Herman <pherman@frenchfries.net> To: j mckitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: meaning of different memory types in 'top' Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.33.0105210850560.29842-100000@husten.security.at12.de> In-Reply-To: <20010520233837.A61395@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 20 May 2001, j mckitrick wrote: > I RTFM'ed, but some of the FM was lacking. :) While it did > cover the terms, it didn't explain them. Where can i find the > difference between active, inactive, wired, cache, buf, and > (silly me) free? http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/internals-vm.html It might be a little too technical, but certainly describes what they are. For the cliff notes readers amongst us, here's the skinny: you've basically got 4 "buckets" of memory: active -> inactive -> cache -> free as the system cleans/frees pages in memory (usually under high load), they get moved more and more to the right. If old pages get used again, they move back to the left. "Buf" is buffer memory for the VFS (filesystem), and "Wired" is stuff only the kernel internaly uses (like in 'vmstat -m' or 'vmstat -z') -Paul. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.33.0105210850560.29842-100000>