# Normal RAM Usage
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 25, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630 "2016-09-25T17:13:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dustinmatlock](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dustinmatlock)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/1 "2016-09-25T17:13:27Z")
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!
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### Author:  [@mpalmer](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mpalmer)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/2 "2016-09-26T05:26:55Z")
What about that screenshot do you consider to be abnormal?
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### Author:  [@dustinmatlock](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dustinmatlock)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/3 "2016-09-26T13:10:13Z")
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!
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### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/4 "2016-09-26T14:43:52Z")
Check the existing topic below
> [@Oddly high RAM usage with Discourse?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/oddly-high-ram-usage-with-discourse/49147):
>
> Hi, I’m running a virtual private server with Discourse installed through Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Right now there’s no traffic (there’s probably two or three people on the site right now for beta testing) and the RAM usage for the server is already at 1.85GB. I’m running a server with only 2GB of RAM in it and I fear that when the site actually gets traffic the RAM will completely max out and the server will crash or severely slow down. Is this something to be worried about? I only have Discourse and …
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/5 "2016-09-26T16:53:44Z")
Yes, that’s normal.
What you can do is tune down the unicorn workers number. In one instance I have:
- 280MB per unicorn worker
- 200MB sidekiq
- 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.
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### Author:  [@dustinmatlock](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dustinmatlock)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/6 "2016-09-26T17:21:30Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/7 "2016-09-26T18:29:28Z")
I have followed this guide soem months ago, and it worked fine:
> [@Install Docker with AUFS on Linode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-install-docker-with-aufs-on-linode/39831):
>
> The [30-minute Discourse installation guide](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/master/docs/INSTALL-cloud.md) assumes you’ll be using Digital Ocean and makes no mention of an important requirement for Docker: If you use another hosting provider, you should really make sure that a Linux kernel feature called “[AUFS](https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/storagedriver/aufs-driver/)” is supported. Docker not using AUFS can cause [terrible pain](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-install-discourse-with-only-10-gb-disk-run-out-of-space/29149/37). If you want to use Linode, here’s how to enable AUFS support in Ubuntu (for other OSes, refer to [Linode’s guide](https://www.linode.com/docs/tools-reference/custom-kernels-distros/run-a-distribution-supplied-kernel-with-kvm) and update the instructions below accordingly: Create the Linode and pic…
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.
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### Author:  [@dustinmatlock](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dustinmatlock)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/8 "2016-09-26T19:08:11Z")
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!
[http://crunchify.com/how-to-setup-discourse-org-forum-on-linode-correct-way-tested-and-verified-steps/](http://crunchify.com/how-to-setup-discourse-org-forum-on-linode-correct-way-tested-and-verified-steps/)
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### Author:  [@dustinmatlock](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dustinmatlock)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/9 "2016-09-26T23:03:10Z")
In regards to the security issue, I think [this article](https://blog.linode.com/2016/02/19/security-investigation-retrospective/) on Linode’s blog may have a few answers.
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/normal-ram-usage/50630/10 "2024-06-08T12:45:22Z")
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