If you see an unusually high RAM usage in the hPanel dashboard:
Our recommendation is to check the detailed usage inside the server. Just log in to your VPS via SSH and enter the following command:
free -m
It will generate a table breaking down the RAM usage similar to this:
Let's go over each column:
Total - the RAM limit set for your VPS plan
Used - memory in use at the moment
Free - unused memory
Shared - memory used by temporary files
Buff/cache - memory used by kernel buffers and page cache
Available - how much memory your server can additionally use to execute further processes
NOTES
Due to the calculation method, there may be variations between the total and the sum of used and free memory
The hPanel dashboard graph displays the sum of used and buff/cache as used memory
If you see high usage in the cache column, you do not need to worry! Caching improves the performance of your VPS by using free memory to buffer frequently-accessed files.
In addition, Linux has a built-in memory management feature that will automatically release cache memory as pressure increases within your VPS. This will prevent it from running out of memory - so you don't have to clear the cache to increase available memory 😊
Additional Resources