How to Monitor RAM Usage

Prerequisites

Before monitoring RAM usage, make sure you have:

• SSH access to your VPS

Method 1: Using free (Quick Overview)

Connect to your VPS:

ssh hxroot@YOUR_SERVER_IP -p 22

free -h

Example output:

              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.8G        2.5G        4.2G        123M        1.1G        4.8G
Swap:          2.0G        0.0G        2.0G

Important: Look at the "available" column – this is memory available for new applications. Linux uses free RAM for caching (buff/cache), which is normal.

Method 2: Using top/htop

top

Press M to sort by memory usage.

htop

Memory is shown as a colored bar at the top.

Method 3: Using vmstat

vmstat -s

Shows detailed memory statistics including total, used, free, cache, swap.

Method 4: Find Top Memory-Consuming Processes

ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -10

Shows top 10 processes by memory usage.

Method 5: Using smem (Better Memory Reporting)

apt install smem -y

smem -r -k

Shows USS (unique set size) – more accurate than RSS.

Method 6: Via Hostxpeed Portal

Your Hostxpeed client area shows live RAM usage:

1. Log in to Hostxpeed Client Area
2. Go to My Services → Your VPS
3. Look for the RAM Usage card (e.g., 32.7% - 2.5 GB / 8 GB)

Understanding Memory Types

• total - Total physical RAM
• used - Currently used (includes cached)
• free - Completely unused RAM (usually low)
• available - Memory available for new processes (most important)
• buff/cache - Disk cache (can be freed if needed)
• swap - Virtual memory on disk (slow, high usage indicates RAM shortage)

Monitor RAM Over Time

watch -n 5 free -h