Subject: Problems with Memory Management

From: "Edward L. Wallace" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 May 1993 12:42:30 -0700

I don't have the exact numbers off-hand, but I nonetheless have a concern.

DragonsFire MOO (a Pern-based MOO) is running on a Multi-proccessor machine
(under EP/IX, I believe).  

Our database consists of no more than ~4000 objects and is stored in
approximately 6-8 Megs of diskspace.  Interestingly -- and unfortunately --
we are running at approximately 16 Megs of RAM while online.

Is this a phenomenon a product of the multi-processor machine, or is it
typical of MOO servers?  I repeat that these aren't exact numbers (my site
admin is on jury duty so getting them will be hard).  He is, however, on
this list, and I encourage him to correct me. :)

Curious
Ted

Falryx@lambdamoo
Ted@dragonsfiremoo

---

From: Pavel Curtis <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 May 1993 10:23:06 -0700

> Date:	Wed, 19 May 1993 12:42:30 -0700
> From:	"Edward L. Wallace" <[email-masked]>
> 
> typical of MOO servers?

Yes, these numbers don't sound out of line to me; we've seen about a factor of
two increase between the on-disk and in-core copies of the DB.  Also, keep in
mind that the amount of memory used can grow if, for example, some task creates
a huge list and then throws it away.  Since the server has no portable way to
give memory back to the OS, this kind of bloat in the process size must simple
be lived with.  On LambdaMOO itself, we reboot every couple of weeks just to
drain this kind of swelling.

	Pavel