https://www.netdata.cloud/tags/kernel/Recent content in Kernel on NetdataHugoen-usThu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.netdata.cloud/blog/unlock-the-secrets-of-kernel-memory-usage/Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.netdata.cloud/blog/unlock-the-secrets-of-kernel-memory-usage/<p><img src="../2023-05-04-unlock-the-secrets-of-kernel-memory-usage/img/stacked-netdata.png" alt="stacked-netdata"></p> <p>The <code>mem.kernel</code> chart in Netdata provides insight into the memory usage of <a href="https://www.netdata.cloud/academy/what-are-the-differences-between-bpf-and-ebpf-an-overview/">various kernel subsystems</a> and mechanisms. By understanding these dimensions and their technical details, you can monitor your system&rsquo;s kernel memory usage and identify potential issues or inefficiencies. Monitoring these dimensions can help you ensure that your system is running efficiently and provide valuable insights into the performance of your kernel and memory subsystem.</p> <p><img src="../2023-05-04-unlock-the-secrets-of-kernel-memory-usage/img/mem-kernel.png" alt="mem-kernel"></p> <!-- truncate --> <h2 id="slab">Slab</h2> <p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_allocation">slab allocator</a> is a memory management mechanism introduced by Jeff Bonwick in 1994 to manage <a href="https://www.netdata.cloud/vsphere-monitoring/">memory allocation</a> for kernel objects. The main purpose of the slab allocator is to reduce memory fragmentation and improve the speed of memory allocation/deallocation. The slab allocator groups objects of the same size into &ldquo;slabs&rdquo; and caches the objects to speed up future allocations.</p>