# Linux Eating the System Memory Issue
If you've used any Linux OS running anything in production with high uptime, you might've noticed that overtime, your memory usage keeps on increasing. If you have any graphing/monitoring tools installed that monitor the system memory, you might also see a gradual increase in the memory usage.

::: warning
This is especially prominent in servers equipped with large amounts of memory (256/512GB or more), running hypervisors like Proxmox, etc.
:::

**Don’t worry, this isn’t an issue. Your system memory is fine!**

### What's happening?
The Linux kernel uses unused memory as disk cache so running applications can access the frequently used files faster and reduce the number of disk reads. It may make it seem like you're running low on system memory when in reality, you're not. This may confuse people who are new to Linux but with enough experience working with Linux, you’ll start to normalize this behaviour and know how to distinguish between this and actually running low on memory.

### Are there any downsides?
There are no real downsides to this. It’s a common practice on most modern operating systems, especially as SSDs become more prevalent. While most SSDs are designed to handle a lot of reads and writes before failing, it’s still a good idea to keep your drives healthy. This improves performance, free up I/O for when you really need it, and extend the life of your drive.

###### Can I disable this?
Short Answer: No.
The Linux kernel is very efficient and operates in a specific manner to ensure stability and performance. It is recommended to refrain from modifying any default kernel behavior, even if possible.

It is however, possible to clear the cache if for whatever reason you need to. To force linux to clear the cache, Run the following command:

```bash
echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
```

### What if I want to install more applications?
The Linux kernel is simply borrowing memory for performance. If an application requests more memory, it will give up the used memory to the application. Your applications will not be starved of memory because of this behaviour.

### Why do my monitoring systems show used memory if its free?
This could be a simple misunderstanding of terminology. The definitions of “free” and “used” might not be the same for the kernel and your monitoring software. Any cache is considered “available” memory to the kernel, while completely untouched memory will be shown as “free.” Your monitoring tool may add up the “used” and “cached/buffered” memory together to count it as used memory. The best way to check this is to use the `free -h` command, which shows you the used, free, and cached memory usage, as well as your swap usage.