What UPDATE changed memory use?

[Blackie]

Hi, I have a low end FreeNAS setup with only 8gb of Ram. After my installation the system was consistently using almost all the RAM. I.E. I had around 300mb of free memory. Also, FN was not using any of the SWAP file.

I watched this for about a month and it was consistent.

Now 3 weeks later I checked and I have 6.2Gb of free memory. Wow. Do any of the experts know what has been changed in FN?

Or is this just an adjustment FN makes depending on use?

 

[Chris Moore]

FreeNAS (ZFS) uses memory for ARC (Adaptive Replacement Cache) and it is updated based on your usage patterns. It is possible that if you don't use it at all, it will flush the ARC and memory usage would go down. Your system does not have the recommended ratio of RAM to storage, so I would expect memory to be full if the system were being used at all.

 

[Chris Moore]

PS. Memory usage will drop when you reboot, until the ARC is built back up, again, based on usage.