RN516 Memory Upgrade

Forget it's a NAS for the moment. It runs Debian... it's a Linux server, folks. Albeit it has specialized software installed on it, but underneath it's just Linux. mdgm is correct in that if it's not swapping them memory may not be a critical upgrade. But it also tries to use as much RAM for FILE CACHE. And we all know it's much faster to serve data from DRAM than it is disk... even if it's SSD, depending on I/O channel bandwidth.

So, again, it's up to your workload. If you /very frequently/ access tons of tiny files or a decent number of huge files, it's up to how well the most recent stuff fits in the available cache space. You may not swap, but you may spend more time hitting disks to pull data back in.

Swapping is more often a factor of how much RAM applications allocate. And in this area, that would include things like the web server, file services, and any add-ons you install. For most this won't be a problem, since they tend to be pretty tiny. But in my case, I find that PLEX (esp when you do lots of batch transcoding, like for syncing transcoded stuff to clients for offline viewing) and DVBLink (for OTA and cable TV recording) tend to like a fair amount of RAM. But if I'm transcoding and watching a program and my Mac kicks off a Time Machine backup, I'd rather not sit through stuttering. So for me the decision was fairly easy to do the memory upgrade.

Where memory is concerned... it's about swapping AND available file cache space. :) But, more generally, it's about your specific workload. And most workloads will probably not require more than default RAM.

Hi guys, just found out about the OS6 upgrade possibility for my utra6 so just started backup of my data.

I was also looking into a possible and the usefulness of a memory upgrade and found this thread. How do I know if my NAS is swapping a lot to determine I can benefit from a memory upgrade? I use sabnzbd and sickbeard and that's more or less it for now. Might be that I have more packages to choose from after upgrading to OS6...

If you download the logs zip file, one of the logs for the memory shows this. You can see how much is being used for caching and how much swap is used. If you are using a lot for caching but not swap then a memory upgrade likely won't make a significant difference. However if you are using your swap a lot then a memory upgrade may make some difference.

We don't support memory upgrades, but you can do them on our models which use Intel CPUs e.g. the Ultra 6. If you do do one on be sure to run at least a few passes of the memory test boot menu option.

How is the memory test result presented on both the Ultra's as well as the RN516?
The RN516 has a video out (does that work?) but the Ultra's only a video header.

It's bern a bit since I did one on an older model, but if it has an LED display the status will be shown there. I took the effort to hook up a display to my 516 but the same basic step and results info was shown on the LED as well.

On the Ultra 6 and other units with a display, I think some text will show on the display on the front.

Thanks, and being curious in nature, what would I see if I hooked either unit up to a screen?
Would there be a post and maybe a bios enter option?
I'm thinking of acquiring a VGA breakout cable to hook up my old Ultra just so I can see...

You would see the memory test progress on the VGA display.

Thanks all!
I'll check the logs tomorrow after my backup jobs are all finished... backing up to USB sucks. takes me 2,5/3 days to copy 6TB.

I assume I can just run the memory test from putty and watch from there too right? Don't need to hook up a screen for that?

Better to use the boot menu (less stuff running). The display on the front of the NAS should show the progress.