Hey I am trying to figure out how much memory a standard web server should have... i read the tech people saying 128mb, then almost everyone else saying at least a GIG... anyone?

Depends on what the server is setup to do, shared web hosting of static sites 200 or so sites per server then 512 will do.
A single site on a dedicated you can get by with 256.
Reseller server with heavy usage etc. 512-1 Gig.

All this also depends on type of drives processer etc.

As Monte said, it really depends on the usage of the server. Also, if the content is static or dynamic. Another important thing to consider is if the server will solely be a web server, or will it serve mail, database, ftp, etc.

I put around 2-4GB on my web servers ... The more, the better. There is no reason (except cost) not to put as much memory as your motherboard allows. For that reason, do not choose motherboards that will allow you only up to 512MB of memory.

4GB, now that's what I call a server. :)

really? wow. Is there not a point where its just a waste? I guess 1gb is pretty safe then.

I'd say 512MB is the minimum.

RAM is fairly cheap, I remember when 16MB ram cost $150, and that was going in on a bulk order. Darn, now I feel old.... :)

I guess a better question is, how do you know when its time to get more memory? is there like a program or something you can run in linux that monitors that kind of thing?

free

Once, you start using over 2/3rd of your RAM for applications, it's time to add more.

i know its a stupid question, but whats the best program to monitor memory in redhat?

Most servers I have built for people, generally 1GB-1.5GB seems to be the popular mark. And generally 1GB is just fine for hosting a good deal of static web pages, or can handle some high resource intensive websites. I beleive once you are using 2GB+, you should consider getting another server online. IMO 1.5GB is the ideal mark.

Ancient proverb:

Wimpy machine require wimpy memory. Strong machine require strong memory.

:)

We have a server limited to 512MB of memory by the m/board - and it really restricts the number of clients on it, we now consider 1GB or more essential for a server.

Matt

ok, so how many clients/memory is the ratio? Like 256mb for 20 clients, 512 for 50, 1g for 100? or is it more?

We don't really have a client / memory ratio - we just found that the machine was restricted by the small amount of memory, so stopped adding clients to it so to not overload it.

I don't think there's a real x clients per y memory ratio. I think it is, to some degree, a logistic graph (second graph here (http://fym.la.asu.edu/~fym/mat210_web/lessons/Ch1/1_9/1_9ol.html)). When you go from, say, 256 to 512, the change is big. When you go from 512 to 1024, the change is Very Big, but when you go higher than 1 GB, it sort of levels off because of server load.

- James