HTOP shows massive memory usage but proceslist shows otherwise












1














I'm running htop on my Ubuntu 16.04LTS server to monitor my CPU and RAM usage. I'm aware of the color indications used by htop as outlined below:



htop default color usage



So, when I look at my htop-overview, it shows me the following:
htop overview



However, this seems rather unclear to me. htop shows a memory usage of almost 100% (some cached memory, but mainly used RAM). However, when I look at the main processes (childs are hidden), I won't even come close to 50% RAM usage (16.1% + 11.6% + 2.7%).



So, this confuses me a bit and I would like to know why htop shows me a almost fully used RAM-bar?



Important to note is that, looking at the meminfo page, I see the following overview, indicating a lot of cached RAM in contradiction to what htop is showing me?



meminfo



So, I would actually expect a RAM-usage bar in htop with a lot more yellow/orange? Though, it consists of green for approximately 85%?



Could it perhaps be that there are many (very short running) processes, which require a lot of RAM but suspend to quickly for htop to show them?



EDIT
Another picture of htop (with processes using more memory) and meminfo together
htop and meminfo together










share|improve this question
























  • Are you perhaps using ZFS?
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:11










  • @DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:13










  • You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:18










  • @DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:21










  • Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:28
















1














I'm running htop on my Ubuntu 16.04LTS server to monitor my CPU and RAM usage. I'm aware of the color indications used by htop as outlined below:



htop default color usage



So, when I look at my htop-overview, it shows me the following:
htop overview



However, this seems rather unclear to me. htop shows a memory usage of almost 100% (some cached memory, but mainly used RAM). However, when I look at the main processes (childs are hidden), I won't even come close to 50% RAM usage (16.1% + 11.6% + 2.7%).



So, this confuses me a bit and I would like to know why htop shows me a almost fully used RAM-bar?



Important to note is that, looking at the meminfo page, I see the following overview, indicating a lot of cached RAM in contradiction to what htop is showing me?



meminfo



So, I would actually expect a RAM-usage bar in htop with a lot more yellow/orange? Though, it consists of green for approximately 85%?



Could it perhaps be that there are many (very short running) processes, which require a lot of RAM but suspend to quickly for htop to show them?



EDIT
Another picture of htop (with processes using more memory) and meminfo together
htop and meminfo together










share|improve this question
























  • Are you perhaps using ZFS?
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:11










  • @DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:13










  • You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:18










  • @DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:21










  • Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:28














1












1








1







I'm running htop on my Ubuntu 16.04LTS server to monitor my CPU and RAM usage. I'm aware of the color indications used by htop as outlined below:



htop default color usage



So, when I look at my htop-overview, it shows me the following:
htop overview



However, this seems rather unclear to me. htop shows a memory usage of almost 100% (some cached memory, but mainly used RAM). However, when I look at the main processes (childs are hidden), I won't even come close to 50% RAM usage (16.1% + 11.6% + 2.7%).



So, this confuses me a bit and I would like to know why htop shows me a almost fully used RAM-bar?



Important to note is that, looking at the meminfo page, I see the following overview, indicating a lot of cached RAM in contradiction to what htop is showing me?



meminfo



So, I would actually expect a RAM-usage bar in htop with a lot more yellow/orange? Though, it consists of green for approximately 85%?



Could it perhaps be that there are many (very short running) processes, which require a lot of RAM but suspend to quickly for htop to show them?



EDIT
Another picture of htop (with processes using more memory) and meminfo together
htop and meminfo together










share|improve this question















I'm running htop on my Ubuntu 16.04LTS server to monitor my CPU and RAM usage. I'm aware of the color indications used by htop as outlined below:



htop default color usage



So, when I look at my htop-overview, it shows me the following:
htop overview



However, this seems rather unclear to me. htop shows a memory usage of almost 100% (some cached memory, but mainly used RAM). However, when I look at the main processes (childs are hidden), I won't even come close to 50% RAM usage (16.1% + 11.6% + 2.7%).



So, this confuses me a bit and I would like to know why htop shows me a almost fully used RAM-bar?



Important to note is that, looking at the meminfo page, I see the following overview, indicating a lot of cached RAM in contradiction to what htop is showing me?



meminfo



So, I would actually expect a RAM-usage bar in htop with a lot more yellow/orange? Though, it consists of green for approximately 85%?



Could it perhaps be that there are many (very short running) processes, which require a lot of RAM but suspend to quickly for htop to show them?



EDIT
Another picture of htop (with processes using more memory) and meminfo together
htop and meminfo together







ubuntu memory performance htop






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 22 '18 at 17:32

























asked Dec 22 '18 at 17:00









Thomas van Hesteren

162




162












  • Are you perhaps using ZFS?
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:11










  • @DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:13










  • You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:18










  • @DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:21










  • Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:28


















  • Are you perhaps using ZFS?
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:11










  • @DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:13










  • You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:18










  • @DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
    – Thomas van Hesteren
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:21










  • Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
    – Daniel B
    Dec 22 '18 at 17:28
















Are you perhaps using ZFS?
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:11




Are you perhaps using ZFS?
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:11












@DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
– Thomas van Hesteren
Dec 22 '18 at 17:13




@DanielB no, not that I'm aware of. Where can I check this?
– Thomas van Hesteren
Dec 22 '18 at 17:13












You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:18




You’d know. On second thought, the memory usage pattern doesn’t match anyway. You have a lot of shared memory, also note how your cached memory is not considered “available”.
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:18












@DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
– Thomas van Hesteren
Dec 22 '18 at 17:21




@DanielB, indeed. However, why is htop now showing it in the RAM-bar as orange/yellow since it is cached? Besides, my memory usage doesn't seem to look bad (server response is fast and good). Though, when based on htop, I would conclude that my server is used at almost 100% RAM capacity? I don't understand the relation between both
– Thomas van Hesteren
Dec 22 '18 at 17:21












Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:28




Because it is not cached in the sense of being available for reuse. Something is still using this memory.
– Daniel B
Dec 22 '18 at 17:28










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