If you ever want to empty it you can use this chain of commands.
# free && sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free
# free && sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1018916 980832 38084 0 46924 355764
-/+ buffers/cache: 578144 440772
Swap: 2064376 128 2064248
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1018916 685008 333908 0 224 108252
-/+ buffers/cache: 576532 442384
Swap: 2064376 128 2064248
You can signal the Linux Kernel to drop various aspects of cached items by changing the numeric argument to the above command.
-
To free pagecache:
# echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches -
To free dentries and inodes:
# echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches -
To free pagecache, dentries and inodes:
# echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
The above are meant to be run as root. If you’re trying to do them using sudo then you’ll need to change the syntax slightly to something like these:
$ sudo sh -c 'echo 1 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'
$ sudo sh -c 'echo 2 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'
$ sudo sh -c 'echo 3 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'
NOTE: There’s a more esoteric version of the above command if you’re into that:
$ echo "echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" | sudo sh
Why the change in syntax? The /bin/echo program is running as root, because of sudo, but the shell that’s redirecting echo’s output to the root-only file is still running as you. Your current shell does the redirection before sudo starts.
Seeing what’s in the buffers and cache
Take a look at linux-ftools if you’d like to analyze the contents of the buffers & cache. Specifically if you’d like to see what files are currently being cached.
fincore
With this tool you can see what files are being cached within a give directory.
fincore [options] files...
--pages=false Do not print pages
--summarize When comparing multiple files, print a summary report
--only-cached Only print stats for files that are actually in cache.
For example, /var/lib/mysql/blogindex:
root@xxxxxx:/var/lib/mysql/blogindex# fincore --pages=false --summarize --only-cached *
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_05_21.MYI: file size=93840384 , total pages=22910 , cached pages=1 , cached size=4096, cached perc=0.004365
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_05_22.MYI: file size=417792 , total pages=102 , cached pages=1 , cached size=4096, cached perc=0.980392
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_05_23.MYI: file size=826368 , total pages=201 , cached pages=1 , cached size=4096, cached perc=0.497512
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_05_24.MYI: file size=192512 , total pages=47 , cached pages=1 , cached size=4096, cached perc=2.127660
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_06_03.MYI: file size=345088 , total pages=84 , cached pages=43 , cached size=176128, cached perc=51.190476
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_06_04.MYD: file size=1478552 , total pages=360 , cached pages=97 , cached size=397312, cached perc=26.944444
stats for CLUSTER_LOG_2010_06_04.MYI: file size=205824 , total pages=50 , cached pages=29 , cached size=118784, cached perc=58.000000
stats for COMMENT_CONTENT_2010_06_03.MYI: file size=100051968 , total pages=24426 , cached pages=10253 , cached size=41996288, cached perc=41.975764
stats for COMMENT_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYD: file size=716369644 , total pages=174894 , cached pages=79821 , cached size=326946816, cached perc=45.639645
stats for COMMENT_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYI: file size=56832000 , total pages=13875 , cached pages=5365 , cached size=21975040, cached perc=38.666667
stats for FEED_CONTENT_2010_06_03.MYI: file size=1001518080 , total pages=244511 , cached pages=98975 , cached size=405401600, cached perc=40.478751
stats for FEED_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYD: file size=9206385684 , total pages=2247652 , cached pages=1018661 , cached size=4172435456, cached perc=45.321117
stats for FEED_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYI: file size=638005248 , total pages=155763 , cached pages=52912 , cached size=216727552, cached perc=33.969556
stats for FEED_CONTENT_2010_06_04.frm: file size=9840 , total pages=2 , cached pages=3 , cached size=12288, cached perc=150.000000
stats for PERMALINK_CONTENT_2010_06_03.MYI: file size=1035290624 , total pages=252756 , cached pages=108563 , cached size=444674048, cached perc=42.951700
stats for PERMALINK_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYD: file size=55619712720 , total pages=13579031 , cached pages=6590322 , cached size=26993958912, cached perc=48.533080
stats for PERMALINK_CONTENT_2010_06_04.MYI: file size=659397632 , total pages=160985 , cached pages=54304 , cached size=222429184, cached perc=33.732335
stats for PERMALINK_CONTENT_2010_06_04.frm: file size=10156 , total pages=2 , cached pages=3 , cached size=12288, cached perc=150.000000
---
total cached size: 32847278080
With the above output you can see that there are several *.MYD, *.MYI, and *.frm files that are currently being cached.
Swap
If you want to clear out your swap you can use the following commands.
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7987492 7298164 689328 0 30416 457936
-/+ buffers/cache: 6809812 1177680
Swap: 5963772 609452 5354320
Then use this command to disable swap:
$ swapoff -a
You can confirm that it’s now empty:
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7987492 7777912 209580 0 39332 489864
-/+ buffers/cache: 7248716 738776
Swap: 0 0 0
And to re-enable it:
$ swapon -a
And now reconfirm with free:
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 7987492 7785572 201920 0 41556 491508
-/+ buffers/cache: 7252508 734984
Swap: 5963772 0 5963772