[rt-users] RT Runs VERY Slowly...

[Steve Wampler]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2004 at 10:40:15AM -0700, Stevo wrote:
> Here's the output... I'd love to get to the root of this...
> 
> 
>         total:    used:    free:  shared: buffers:  cached:
> Mem:  525799424 514760704 11038720        0 85594112 223989760
> Swap: 1068498944  8089600 1060409344
> MemTotal:       513476 kB
> MemFree:         10780 kB
> MemShared:           0 kB
> Buffers:         83588 kB
> Cached:         214824 kB
> SwapCached:       3916 kB
> Active:         355092 kB
> ActiveAnon:     139360 kB
> ActiveCache:    215732 kB
> Inact_dirty:         0 kB
> Inact_laundry:   76368 kB
> Inact_clean:      7244 kB
> Inact_target:    87740 kB
> HighTotal:           0 kB
> HighFree:            0 kB
> LowTotal:       513476 kB
> LowFree:         10780 kB
> SwapTotal:     1043456 kB
> SwapFree:      1035556 kB
 
Actually, that looks OK - and pretty typical.  I doubt that the
problem is memory related.  Of your ~500MB of used memory, over
half (about 288MB) is buffer/cache.  The kernel has a lot of
freedom in how that memory is allocated and has room to balance
buffers and cache as needed.  The fact that you only have 10MB
free is a Good Thing - it means the kernel is doing a good job
managing your memory and using it efficiently.  (The mantra of
the Linux kernel is "free memory is wasted memory".)

And there is a at least a little in the swap - just under 8MB.
So swap is being used when memory does start getting tight [I'd
guess that the machine hasn't been very long, as the kernel tends
to migrate more idle processes to swap as time goes on.]

So, my best guess is that something else is the culprit of
the slow RT performance.  I tend to blame the database for
such things, but that's really just because I like blaming
mysql [I use postgresql] and not for any justifiable reason.
You're probably better off listening to the advice of others
at this point...

Good luck!
Steve

--
Steve Wampler     {sbw at tapestry.tucson.az.us}
The gods that smiled upon your birth are laughing now. -- fortune cookie