Hello, I have Discourse installed on DigitalOcean. I see the minimum requirements are 1 GB of RAM, although it seems my server is using more than expected. Any thoughts, is this normal? Thanks!
AI-generated summary
Normal RAM Usage discussion revolves around the expected RAM usage for a Discourse installation. dustinmatlock initially expresses concern about their DigitalOcean server using more RAM than anticipated, exceeding the recommended 1 GB minimum requirement.
After sharing a screenshot, mpalmer asks for clarification on the abnormality, prompting dustinmatlock to explain their concern about high RAM usage without any users.
Falco reassures that the RAM usage is normal and suggests tuning down the unicorn workers number to reduce memory usage. vinothkannans points to a related topic on high RAM usage with Discourse.
The conversation shifts to migrating the forum to Linode, where dustinmatlock seeks advice on manual installation due to Linode’s different kernel. Falco shares a guide on installing Docker with AUFS on Linode but mentions concerns about Linode’s security.
However, dustinmatlock finds an alternative resource and addresses the security concerns by sharing an article from Linode’s blog.
What about that screenshot do you consider to be abnormal?
Hi Matt, I don’t know if you had a chance to read the rest of what I wrote, but I read somewhere Discourse only requires 1 GB of RAM. If that’s the case, it seems my installation is using more than expected. I don’t have any users yet. Before restarting the server, some of the swap memory was being used as well. Perhaps I didn’t know Discourse needed so much memory, and that was my question: are these normal results? Most of the allotted memory is being used. Thanks!
Check the existing topic below
Yes, that’s normal.
What you can do is tune down the unicorn workers number. In one instance I have:
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280MB per unicorn worker
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200MB sidekiq
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180MB unicorn master
I guess going from 4 workers to 2 can shave you some memory.
PS: I’m assuming that you are running a ghost town, when you get more users revisit this.
Thank you. Your response has been the most helpful. Any advice on getting it working on Linode – maybe even how to migrate the forum? Linode uses a different kernel, so it’s going to be a manual installation, and the kernel has to be switched as well. I can get double the memory with less storage on Linode instead of DigitalOcean, and the performance is also better.
I have followed this guide soem months ago, and it worked fine:
However, keep in mind that people have some concerns with Linode security:
About migration, it’s easy. After having Discourse running in both servers, backup from old, restore on new.
I saw that tutorial, but it’s hard for me to use something where the person who wrote it doesn’t understand what’s going on. Here’s another resource I might try. Thanks for the help!
In regards to the security issue, I think this article on Linode’s blog may have a few answers.