KB Article #176294

Free memory reported by real-time monitoring doesn't agree with the top command

Problem

The free memory displayed in the real-time monitoring console doesn't match the output found with the Linux "top" tool

e.g. Free memory: 534 MB    Top=252408k (245M)

Resolution

Real-time monitoring is showing a free memory value that includes buffers and cached memory.
Compare it with the 2nd row values returned by "free -m" rather than "top".

e.g.
# free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           992        745        246          0         17        270
-/+ buffers/cache:        458        534
Swap:         2015          0       2015

Free memory = 246+17+270=533M

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