Monitoring memory usage
I forget things all the time. I regularly forget where my car keys are, even though they're almost always right there in my pocket the entire time. I even forget to use sudo for commands that normally require it, over 18 years since starting to work with Linux. Thankfully, computers have a better memory than I do, but if we don't manage it effectively, the memory on our servers will be just as useless as I am when I forget to put freshly washed laundry in the dryer.
Understanding how Linux manages memory can actually be a somewhat complex topic, as understanding how much memory is truly free can be a hurdle for newcomers to overcome. You'll soon see that how Linux manages memory on your server is actually fairly straightforward once explained.
Understanding server memory
For the purpose of monitoring memory usage on our server, we have the free command at our disposal, which we can use to see how much memory is being consumed at any...