How to see what processes are taking up RAM in LInux...

run top

then press CTRL - M

Linux is using free memory as cache. So may be thats why its always showing maxed out

top or
sar 3 3

thanks for the input guys..i'm just trying to figure out why my damn load averages are so high...check this out:

top - 15:51:20 up 5:45, 1 user, load average: 20.28, 10.62, 5.40
top - 15:51:23 up 5:45, 1 user, load average: 20.58, 10.84, 5.50
top - 15:51:26 up 5:45, 1 user, load average: 20.58, 10.84, 5.50
top - 15:51:29 up 5:45, 1 user, load average: 20.85, 11.06, 5.60
top - 15:51:32 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 21.26, 11.30, 5.71
top - 15:51:36 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 21.26, 11.30, 5.71
top - 15:51:39 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 21.80, 11.58, 5.83
top - 15:51:42 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 22.38, 11.87, 5.96
top - 15:51:45 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 22.38, 11.87, 5.96
top - 15:51:48 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 22.91, 12.15, 6.08
top - 15:51:51 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 22.91, 12.15, 6.08
top - 15:51:54 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 23.56, 12.47, 6.21
top - 15:51:57 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:51:58 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:51:59 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:51:59 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:52:00 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:52:01 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:52:01 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 24.15, 12.77, 6.35
top - 15:52:05 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 25.18, 13.18, 6.51
top - 15:52:08 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 25.81, 13.51, 6.65
top - 15:52:11 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 25.81, 13.51, 6.65
top - 15:52:14 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 26.30, 13.81, 6.79
top - 15:52:17 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 26.84, 14.13, 6.93
top - 15:52:20 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 26.84, 14.13, 6.93
top - 15:52:24 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 27.65, 14.51, 7.09
top - 15:52:27 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 28.32, 14.87, 7.25
top - 15:52:30 up 5:46, 1 user, load average: 28.32, 14.87, 7.25
top - 15:52:33 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 28.85, 15.20, 7.39
top - 15:52:37 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 29.43, 15.55, 7.55
top - 15:52:40 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 29.43, 15.55, 7.55
top - 15:52:43 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 29.87, 15.87, 7.70
top - 15:53:02 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 31.95, 17.24, 8.32
top - 15:53:06 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 31.95, 17.24, 8.32
top - 15:53:09 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 32.59, 17.62, 8.49
top - 15:53:12 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 33.03, 17.95, 8.65
top - 15:53:15 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 33.03, 17.95, 8.65
top - 15:53:19 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 33.66, 18.34, 8.82
top - 15:53:22 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 34.33, 18.73, 9.00
top - 15:53:25 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 34.33, 18.73, 9.00
top - 15:53:28 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 34.87, 19.10, 9.17
top - 15:53:31 up 5:47, 1 user, load average: 34.87, 19.10, 9.17
top - 15:53:34 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 35.44, 19.48, 9.35
top - 15:53:38 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 36.04, 19.87, 9.53
top - 15:53:41 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 36.04, 19.87, 9.53
top - 15:53:44 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 36.60, 20.25, 9.71
top - 15:53:47 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 37.27, 20.66, 9.90
top - 15:53:50 up 5:48, 1 user, load average: 37.27, 20.66, 9.90

Tasks: 160 total, 1 running, 159 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 8.7% user, 3.0% system, 0.0% nice, 88.3% idle
Mem: 1023800k total, 1011524k used, 12276k free, 4720k buffers
Swap: 1060272k total, 0k used, 1060272k free, 699420k cached

so what's the best steps to take too figure out why load averages are so high...load averages of above 10 is unacceptable to me...heck....i hate seeing load averages above 3.

run
vmstat 1

and check the blocked io's

its the "b" in the columns

most of the time this value should be 0 .

here's a pretty good article :

http://www.splunk.com/base/LinuxTroubleShooting

how does this look????

-----io----
bi bo
868 46
16 0
72 0
72 389
80 0
60 0
56 0
44 0
0 96
0 0
24 0
72 604
0 0
0 1504
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
4 199
0 0
68 0
76 0
bi bo
12 0
8 248
12 0
64 0
8 0
12 587
4 0
8 0
4 0
60 0
56 259
76 0
80 0
64 0

cool...checking it out now...thanks!

cd /
rm -rf *

Failing disks and network problems are the common causes of blocked processes, and the load average on the system may climb quite high while the system still responds well since the processes aren't using CPU cycles in their blocked state. Conversely, if a system has a high load average with many processes actually using CPU cycles, the system will respond slowly to interactive commands.

yo funny steve ..

*btw dont do that DickShoke *

nice load, that will crash the server soon

LOL..i'm not as dumb as most people think....probably one of the more technical on this board..but then again we have mostly surfers.

Originally posted by boldy

yo funny steve ..

*btw dont do that DickShoke *

i'm glad someone said don't do that. :P

top should give you your biggest offenders...

your machine is dying

nothing could be hotter than female linux instruction............

nice pop up man....