QNAP ts-469l ram always around 40%??

[g-man2161]

Hi,
My qnap's ram is constantly at around 43-48% with absolute minimal cpu use around 0-5%. No one is using the system at all with no one dragging files off of it or streaming movies. I Have attached an image of the system processes at the moment. It looks like "mysqld" is running but my sql is deactivated, if those two are even linked, I'm not sure. ffmpeg used to run as well, but I uninstalled plex and that fixed it. I need the ram to be running as normal (at 0 or around). Any help would be appreciated, the machine was only booted up properly yesterday for the first time. let me know if there are any settings I have to disable or anything to bring it back to normal? forgive me for playing with the settings, I love this sort of stuff
running: 4.1.0
Build number: 20140612

Thank YOU

[pwilson]

Whats wrong with this output? You can see exactly what is using the RAM, and everything there should be running. If you are worried about it, why not simply install a 2GB SO-DIMM. to triple your RAM from 1GB to 3GB (Maximum supported on your NAS).

Check out the QNAP RAM Module Installation Guide for instructions.

BTW your MySQL Server is disabled, but QNAP's MySQL (actually MariaDB) server isn't. It is working with your QNAP Multimedia Management (mymediadbserver) to provide DLNA Media Services on your network.

I see no issue here whatsoever. Your NAS will "swap" if it needs more RAM. If you were running low on RAM I could understand your concern, but honestly I see nothing wrong here whatsoever. If you are worried about it, simply upgrade your RAM to 3GB.

[Don]

And the problem is what? It's normal. Memory is made to be used. The only time you will get memory usage to 0% is when the NAS is turned off.

[g-man2161]

the problem is, I have disabled the Qnap native DLNA but I have left the twonky on, would this be why? also what is that mariaDB you were talking about?? and do I need it on? I use file station for my computers to access the files on my qnap. I know about the ram upgrade but it voids warranty? also what is apache_proxy?
Thanks for the quick reply though!

[pwilson]

the problem is, I have disabled the Qnap native DLNA but I have left the twonky on, would this be why? also what is that mariaDB you were talking about?? and do I need it on? I use file station for my computers to access the files on my qnap. I know about the ram upgrade but it voids warranty? also what is apache_proxy?
Thanks for the quick reply though!

You won't need the QNAP Multimedia Management at all, if you don't intend to use QNAP DLNA Server, Photo Station, Music Station, Video Station or File Station. Why exactly did you want a NAS? You seem hellbent on disabling things just to solve a non-issue. There is no issue here, so I fail to understand your desire to disable all these features.

Since when does installing RAM void a warranty? You need better "glue" to sniff... QNAP won't support "non-QNAP RAM", but you can remove the additional RAM if you ever need to return it for warranty work, which is highly unlikely.

Why the desire to disable all these useful features (that you paid for)?

[g-man2161]

haha ok that's fair enough, No no, your'e right! I do want these features active! see I initially bought the nas with the intention to use the usb ports on the back to share media, however I soon came to realize that the nas doesn't want to include the external drives in the dlna directory because they are "external", fair enough. So now, I access the media via file station, that's 100% fine because I use my pc on the other end with XBMC to receive media. So, just to re cap, using 40% of ram, and not doing anything at all is normal for these machines?? i'm no professional, and you're probably right, fussing over nothing, but you've got to understand my concern. So the fact that file station is enabled, is taking all of the ram? what does it do that takes up all of the ram? also another quick question, on twonky settings, it says transcoding will take hard drive space, how does the transcoding work? does it convert, then save it permanently? I have a 250gb internal in the nas only so i could set it up, all my media is on the external disks. Otherwise I would have all of these useful settings setup, however they require the files to be on the internal drives.
Sorry about the ram, I didnt know there was "qnap certified ram"

[doktornotor]

I need the ram to be running as normal (at 0 or around). Any help would be appreciated,

Turn the NAS off. Perhaps this very human readable info would help? Memory Usage and Page Cache.

Linux always tries to use RAM to speed up disk operations by using available memory for buffers (file system metadata) and cache (pages with actual contents of files or block devices). This helps the system to run faster because disk information is already in memory which saves I/O operations. If space is needed by programs or applications like Oracle, then Linux will free up the buffers and cache to yield memory for the applications. If your system runs for a while you will usually see a small number under the field "free" on the first line.

Unused RAM == wasted money.

[g-man2161]

ok so basically the memory will free up as I need it? thanks for that.

[pwilson]

haha ok that's fair enough, No no, your'e right! I do want these features active! see I initially bought the nas with the intention to use the usb ports on the back to share media, however I soon came to realize that the nas doesn't want to include the external drives in the dlna directory because they are "external", fair enough. So now, I access the media via file station, that's 100% fine because I use my pc on the other end with XBMC to receive media. So, just to re cap, using 40% of ram, and not doing anything at all is normal for these machines??

Yup. Well the percentage varies depending on how much RAM is installed, but the amount of RAM used here looks perfectly normal.

i'm no professional, and you're probably right, fussing over nothing, but you've got to understand my concern.

No I don't understand the concern at all, but I've been a Linux user for over 20 years, so this is "normal" for me. You probably come from a Windows or OS X environment, hence your concern based on your non-Linux experiences.

So the fact that file station is enabled, is taking all of the ram?

Nope. The programs eating the RAM are listed in the Screenshot you provided.

what does it do that takes up all of the ram?

It is doing the normal housekeeping, databases, and other "normal" NAS activites required to keep your "features" available "on demand".

also another quick question, on twonky settings, it says transcoding will take hard drive space, how does the transcoding work? does it convert, then save it permanently?

Sorry, but I have no idea. My system never "transcodes" anything. I store my Video files in MP4 format, which is a format supported by all my devices (Linux, Android, and occasionally Windows), so my system never needs to transcode anything. I have no desire to waste my CPU or RAM (or Storage space) for transcoding, so I simply chose my file formats so that it never needs to.

I have a 250gb internal in the nas only so i could set it up, all my media is on the external disks.

So you purchased a Network Attached Storage device capable of providing over 16TB of redundancy protected storage, yet you only populated it with 0.25TB of storage? Wow. You've invested in slow non-redundant external storage to connect to your NAS, rather than populating it internally with big HDD's in a nice RAID5 array that provides drive redundancy? Wow again..... Strange choices and priorities.

Otherwise I would have all of these useful settings setup, however they require the files to be on the internal drives.

So you do understand..... When will you be starting to purchase nice big HDD's for your internal drives?

Sorry about the ram, I didnt know there was "qnap certified ram"

No apology required. Besides you won't like QNAP's pricing, so you'll be buying generic RAM locally like the rest of us do. However, you do not need RAM, but you need drives, so I recommend ignoring the RAM non-issue, and focusing on the lack of internal drive space issue instead.

I've experienced 2 HDD failures on my NAS here over the past 8 years, (I was stupid enough to purchase Seagate ST2000DM001 drives ), each time it happened I simply swapped in a replacement drive. Labour to fix: 2 minutes. Data lost: 0 bytes. This is what RAID provides. If you aren't using RAID, you don't have this capability. Your external drives similarly are not protected. (RAID is not a Backup -- You still need to do Backups even with RAID. RAID5 protects from a "single" drive failure, but does not protect from "user error", "file corruption" or "multiple drive failure").

Your NAS is not designed to permit using USB/eSATA drives as "expansion". The USB/eSATA ports are for "temporarily" connecting external drives so you can copy data to/from your NAS. If you need additional space (which you do), upgrade the drive(s) inside your NAS rather than attaching external drives to the NAS. You should seriously consider RAID5. You should be using those external drives for your NAS Backups rather than for additional storage.

What Backup strategy are you using now to protect your 0.25TB of storage?
("A Hope and a Prayer" isn't an effective strategy BTW).

[g-man2161]

hahah no, I have plans for 4x 2tb red wd drives, don't worry I don't plan on keeping this setup forever! like I explained, I just set the nas up, so still fresh (money was an issue and I had tos ell a lot of things to save this amount, the hard drives will come in time). I do plan on using a raid 5 array so drive crashes will not be a problem and the space sacrificed will be minimal. I know the setup is no where near perfect! and yes I have come from a windows / OSX background! but, for now it will do! all I was concerned about is the ram being used when no program was running, but as I understand, linux does this on purpose so the os runs quicker, then allows for memory space when needed? if so then that's fine! like I said, by far, not an expert in linux but it'll come with experience!
Thanks a lot for your help! now I know everything is behaving as normal

[pwilson]

hahah no, I have plans for 4x 2tb red wd drives, don't worry I don't plan on keeping this setup forever! like I explained, I just set the nas up, so still fresh (money was an issue and I had tos ell a lot of things to save this amount, the hard drives will come in time). I do plan on using a raid 5 array so drive crashes will not be a problem and the space sacrificed will be minimal. I know the setup is no where near perfect! and yes I have come from a windows / OSX background! but, for now it will do! all I was concerned about is the ram being used when no program was running, but as I understand, linux does this on purpose so the os runs quicker, then allows for memory space when needed? if so then that's fine! like I said, by far, not an expert in linux but it'll come with experience!
Thanks a lot for your help! now I know everything is behaving as normal

RAID5: 4 * 2TB drives = 5,4TB of space available.

Indeed. All is normal, enjoy your NAS...