---
title: "Server reports little free system memory"
date: "2016-05-03"
category: "platform"
slug: "server-reports-little-free-system-memory"
---

## Symptom

Running `free` from the [[accessing-terminal]] or viewing **Reports** > **Server Info** in the [[logging-into-the-control-panel]] shows very little free memory. For example:

                     total     used    free shared **buffers**   **cached**
Mem:              16540796 13011700 3529096      0  135404 10609292
-/+ buffers/cache: 2267004 14273792
Swap:              2104496    56884 2047612

## Explanation

This is normal behavior. Linux actively uses unoccupied memory as filesystem cache to improve performance:

- **Buffers**: cache for file data
- **Cached**: cache for file metadata (location, size, ownership, etc.)

When a process needs memory, the kernel reclaims it from cache in this order:

1. **Cached** storage is released first
2. **Buffers** are released next
3. On newer platforms, sibling cloud instances may donate available memory
4. If no memory can be reclaimed, the [out-of-memory killer](https://www.kernel.org/doc/gorman/html/understand/understand016.html) terminates the process with the largest memory footprint

In short, low "free" memory is a sign that the server is efficiently using available resources -- not that memory is exhausted.
