Introduction
If you’re running a website from a Linux-based server, whether it is via shared hosting, VPS hosting, or even a cloud server, it is imperative to ensure that your server has enough memory (RAM) so that everything operates cleanly. Memory is what your server uses to run applications and process tasks; basically, memory runs everything that powers your website. As memory becomes full or overloaded, your website will ultimately slow down, become unresponsive, or completely crash. For businesses that depend on uptime and speed, that is the last thing that you need.
The good news is that checking memory usage on a Linux server isn’t hard. Even if you don’t consider yourself “techy”, there are quick and simple ways to get an overall idea of how much memory your server is using and what is occupying space. In this blog, I present six simple methods that get you familiar with memory usage on your Linux hosting server. These methods are helpful especially if you are running WordPress on a VPS, are managing clients on a reseller hosting account, or hosting applications in a dedicated Linux environment.
Why Checking Memory Usage Helps Your Hosting Performance
Before we go into the methods, it’s good to understand why memory usage is important in hosting. RAM handles all active server processes. It is the component responsible for loading your web pages, being the intermediary for database queries and ultimately working as the container for hosting related background services. If your memory usage is maxed out, it does not go away, your server will start using swap space, which is much slower. In addition to affecting performance for your server, performance issues can lead to reduced page speed scores, visitors abandoning slow-loading pages, and worsening server performance.
Memory usage monitoring also allows users to make better decisions on upgrading a hosting plan, removing certain services not in use or optimizing a website’s performance. It is one of the easiest things users can do to prevent downtime and keep a fast and reliable hosting experience.
- Checking Memory with the “free” Command
- Live Monitoring with the “top” Command
- Using “htop” for a User-Friendly View
- Reading the “/proc/meminfo” File
- Viewing System Stats with “vmstat”
- App-by-App Breakdown with “smem”
- Hosting Optimization Tip
The free command is one of the most popular ways to inspect memory usage in Linux. The free command simply provides a quick overview of how much memory in total, used, free and cached or buffered. This is very useful for VPS or cloud hosting users that want to know about their server’s performance quickly and simply.
Running free -h in the terminal on your server provides fairly good information regarding memory status in a human readable format. You don’t need to understand all of the technical information provided by the free command – you just need to concentrate on the numbers where used, free, and available are present – focusing mostly on available memory for the moment. If it is clear that available memory is low and memory usage is high you may want to consider upgrading your plan or optimizing your memory usage.
If you are running a Linux server for your hosting account and want a live view of what is happening, the top command is your friend. This command shows a real-time list of all of the processes running on your server, as well as how much memory each one is using. This can help you determine what process or application is using a lot of memory when your website is loading slowly.
Once you run the top command you will see a live updatable list of processes running on your server. The list may look a little bit technical but focus on the column which shows memory usage per process. If one application is using a lot of RAM this could be what is causing your server to load slowly.
htop is much better than top if you’re looking for a more visual and easier experience. Sometimes, it might not be included by default, but it is very simple to install. Once you have it running, you get a colorized, real-time chart showing how much of your memory is being consumed and what applications are consuming it.
This is very helpful for those administering their own Linux VPS hosting, or cloud servers and they need something simple and clean to tell them how their system resources are performing. Since the layout is easier on the eyes, they don’t need any technical knowledge either. You can also scroll through the list and search for any specific services that may be using a large memory footprint.
If you’re curious enough to explore the subject more thoroughly, Linux provides a special file that contains complete amounts of memory usage, /proc/meminfo. When viewing this file, you’ll see a lengthy list of memory statistics that represent as direct of a usage of RAM in the system as to what is going on.
Provided it looks a bit overwhelming, at the end of the day you don’t need to know what every line means. Knowing that you can access this file if you’re ever in a position to need to send memory stats to a hosting provider or tech support can add value. This is similar to how server monitoring tools can access memory/usages, and custom dashboards exist for dedicated hosting and enterprise-level hosting solutions.
Another practical tool to help you analyze your Linux server’s memory usage is the vmstat command. It provides information in a brief period about your system performance, processes, and memory. It may not be quite as colorful as htop, but it can help you determine whether or not your server is under pressure.
For website owners using VPS or cloud hosting, vmstat can indicate whether your server is swapping too many resources which indicates you are running low on RAM, as swapping will slow. Swapping is a normal way that servers manage resources, but when it starts to become excessive, that’s you need to do a little housekeeping with unused applications, or potentially upgrading up a plan type.
At times, you might want to know specifically what applications and/or websites are using the most memory. This is where the smem tool comes in helpful. Unlike other commands you might run in a terminal, smem can break down memory usage by application and provide a more accurate guess to how much RAM is being allocated to what applications individually.
This is useful if you are running multiple websites/clients on one Linux VPS or dedicated server. If you get a sense of which sites or services are using the most resources, you can either look to optimize those applications or make a decision to move larger applications to other servers.
If you frequently notice your server’s memory is nearly filled to capacity, it may not necessarily be a technical issue. More often than not, shared hosting clients simply outgrow their plan, and it needs to be upgraded to a Linux VPS or cloud hosting plan. Sometimes, you should switch to Linux VPS or cloud hosting because they give you some level of control or even a dedicated resource, which will mitigate memory issues and improve performance.
Sometimes, you may have a dismally optimized website, too many heavy plugins, or services that are running behind the scenes without you needing them to. Keeping your hosting environment clean and lean will help save precious memory and keep slowdowns to a minimum. By keeping close tabs on memory usage, you can see any issues and address the problem before it affects your visitors.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to be a Linux professional to keep an eye on memory usage on your server. Just a few commands and you can quickly determine how your system is doing and also takes action when needed. Whether you’re using VPS hosting, dedicated Linux hosting or even cloud-based hosting platforms, knowing how to monitor memory on your server can keep your websites fast, stable, and responsive.
You can start with easy to use tools such as free, top, or htop and then at your own pace they can also help you adapt to the deeper levels of insight such as vmstat, meminfo, or smem. The more you are within your comfort zone managing your server using these tools, the more confident you’ll feel and better you’ll do while deciding on hosting.
Keeping memory in check isn’t solely a performance issue; it’s ensuring that your visitors, customers, and users have the best possible experience that your web host can provide.
