VPS memory usage
 

Is it normal for a VPS to consume 667 RAM when there are 0 visitors and no scripts are running?

The hosting company insists that the os, mysql and cPanel consume all that RAM.

I've worked with servers before and never had this problem.

I don't think so...

What is your overall php memory set as on the server?

It was 768 and after I saw they just don't understand I agree to change it to 1024 because my website was down and their reason was that I used all memory and it returns err 500

Not your actual memory usage but php memory... Do you have WHM on the server?

i had the same issue with a brand new VPS server i brought a while back got a refund and brought a dedicated server

Yes, but I don't have where to see php memory or I can't find it

Personally I wouldn't ever buy a VPS for shared hosting with cPanel with under 2 gigs and I wouldn't get a VPS for nginx single site hosting with under a gig of RAM.

Get a real host.

That's a bit high with no traffic. Run telinit 3 and then check memory usage with "free -m", looking at the "+/-" row. They could have had a full GUI running.

Also see Fris's Apache thread today. Linux and Apache can run in 16MB without PHP. With PHP, it depends on which extensions you have enabled.

Log into shell and check running processes.

Posts like "I would never buy a VPS .." or "get a real host" are totally unwarranted.
There are several reasons that could cause your server to use memory even when you are not doing anything (or anything that you know of ...), and 99% of them have nothing to do with it being a VPS, or a fault of the host.

I have clients running 300+ wordpress installs - with decent traffic - on a VPS with 512mb of RAM. With the proper caching and http compression engine, a VPS will handle a lot, and has notable benefits for redundancy and I/O.


What HE ^^ said :thumbsup

1) Run TOP and see what processes (PIDs) are using your resources ...

2) Check your mail logs and see if perhaps malware (on your home PC) is using the server's sendmail to bulk mail spam (you will also see many dovecot PIDs in 'top' if your server is being used as a mailing slave)
**If your issues seem to be mail-related, run your favorite malware removal software (AVAST boot time/root kit scan is one of the better ones), change all your logins/passwords on the server, and REBOOT the server!

3) Make sure all available server updates and patches are installed, as these often address exploits that will use your resources.

I moved to hostgator and the same scripts with the whole system uses ~200 RAM compared to 600 just the system.

My advice is to stay away from Certified Hosting