Unix® System Management Primer Plus

Gauging Memory Performance and Capacity

Memory is needed to run everything from the smallest Unix utility to the largest instance of an Oracle database. Running out of memory incurs an enormous penalty in performance when the system begins to swap, so monitoring of its performance and usage is critical.

Virtual Memory Implementations

Unix virtual memory is a complicated subsystem that system administrators frequently misunderstand, which is unfortunate because it is such an important part of the operating system. Virtual memory makes possible the transparent sharing of code and data between processes, the allocation of more memory than is physically present on a system, and even plays a part in file system performance on some operating systems ...