Odd Speed Problem

[erreib]

I am using a Pink B01 Pogoplug, and I essentially want to use it as a seedbox. I have ArchLinuxARM installed on it, as well as Transmission. After booting, everything seems fine: torrents download, and Transmission is accessible via a web interface. However, as time passes, the system seems to get slower. So, for example, right after rebooting, if I try to access the web interface, it loads immediately. However, after 10-15 minutes, it takes about 10 seconds to load. After a few hours, the system becomes inoperable. This applies to logging in via SSH as well: after boot, logging it is quick, and after a few minutes, it takes a while.

Has anyone had a similar problem?

[WarheadsSE]

Which kernel?
What is the rootfs on ? (device and filesystem)
What is the memory load over time?
Is there a swap file?

[erreib]

I'm really new to all this, so I don't really know how to answer that.

I used ArchLinuxARM-oxnas-latest.tar.gz for the filesystem, which I loaded on to the hard drive on a separate Linux machine. Is that the kernal? Or maybe that is the rootfs.

I don't think there is a swapfile, but I don't know what that is either.

Can you tell me how to figure out memory load over time? That sounds like it could be a problem.

Thank you for responding, and I apologize for being so badly informed.

[erreib]

Also, all of this is on an external hard drive. Would it be better to put the rootfs on a faster flash drive, and then download torrents on to the hard drive?

[WarheadsSE]

A flash drive will NOT be faster than Spinning Rust.

Where do people get these ideas that USB flash drives are SSDs?

It sound to me like you have some research to do.

[erreib]

This is the result of checking memory usage every few minutes:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', ' total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 59 63 0 1 18
-/+ buffers/cache: 38 84
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 79 43 0 2 31
-/+ buffers/cache: 45 76
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 113 9 0 2 62
-/+ buffers/cache: 48 74
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 1 69
-/+ buffers/cache: 49 73
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 0 71
-/+ buffers/cache: 49 73
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 0 70
-/+ buffers/cache: 48 73
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 118 4 0 0 68
-/+ buffers/cache: 49 73
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 119 3 0 0 65
-/+ buffers/cache: 53 69
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 121 1 0 0 70
-/+ buffers/cache: 50 72
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 0 67
-/+ buffers/cache: 52 70
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 0 69
-/+ buffers/cache: 50 72
Swap: 0 0 0
[root@alarm ~]# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 122 120 2 0 0 68
-/+ buffers/cache: 50 71
Swap: 0 0 0')

Which would I guess prove that the system is just being taxed too heavily, and doesn't have enough RAM. But these seems strange, since Transmission is the only program I have installed on it. Also, even though the amount of free RAM drops pretty quickly, the actual system doesn't seem to slow down for a few minutes after that drop.

[WarheadsSE]

Pay attention to cached, as true "free" is not the same as "available". free + cached = true measure of available to programs.

[erreib]

Okay, I didn't realize that. That is very helpful, however, that means that memory load is not the problem here. In that case, would the next step be to load try re-extracting the tarball on to the HDD and start from scratch?

[WarheadsSE]

I would say, find out what's eating your system. Nuke From Orbit is an option, sure, but not necessarily a resolution.

[Socaltom]

Have you tried running "top" to see if something is running you didn't know about?
Tom