https://www.netdata.cloud/tags/kernel-same-page-merging/Recent content in Kernel Same-Page Merging on NetdataHugoen-usSat, 22 Aug 2026 05:09:03 +0300https://www.netdata.cloud/blog/ksm/Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://www.netdata.cloud/blog/ksm/<p>Monitoring KSM (Kernel Same-page Merging) performance at deduping memory shared across VMs.</p> <!--truncate--> <h2 id="kernel-same-page-merging-ksm">Kernel Same-page Merging (KSM)</h2> <p>Linux kernels store memory in <strong>pages</strong> which are moved in and out of memory as a single block. On most Linux architectures pages are 4096 bytes. <strong>KSM</strong> (Kernel Same-page Merging) is a kernel feature that scans memory looking for pages with identical content, and then de-duplicates them. The most common use-case where such duplicate pages occur is on hosts running multiple virtual machines (VMs).</p>https://www.netdata.cloud/monitoring-101/ksm-monitoring/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://www.netdata.cloud/monitoring-101/ksm-monitoring/<h2 id="kernel-same-page-merging-ksm">Kernel Same-page Merging (KSM)?</h2> <p>Linux kernels store memory in <strong>pages</strong> which are moved in and out of memory as a single block. On most Linux architectures pages are 4096 bytes. <strong>KSM</strong> (Kernel Same-page Merging) is a kernel feature that scans memory looking for pages with identical content, and then de-duplicates them. The most common use-case where such duplicate pages occur is on hosts running multiple virtual machines (VMs).</p> <p>KSM can greatly reduce the amount of memory used by VMs. When it finds two or more identical pages, it replaces them with a single page that is shared by all VMs that are using it.</p>