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Optimizations for VNC system?
I have a few systems I use for VNC purposes. These range in purpose from extending the functionality of my tablet to small personal file servers with easy access, to remote administration systems. The one thing I cannot seem to do well is use my preference for a personal OS (Ubuntu 11.04 or above) to setup a decent system with low memory use. So I'm seeking help on this.
One of the providers I have used I was able to simple install ubuntu-desktop and tightvncserver and hover at around 250mb ram use. That was VPS6. Now, what made them so different in this case? Your guess is as good as mine.
With Hostigation and BuyVM, I'm having trouble. I know it's me, but I'm having trouble locating the culprit here. I'm not misreading memory usage as is typical and would be a first good guess. These numbers remain fairly consistent across both providers (with exception of KVM systems), with the listed variables changed.
Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10, or 12.04, ubuntu-desktop, tightvncserver
950-1050MB RAM in use
Ubuntu 11.04, 11.10, or 12.04, xubuntu-desktop, tightvncserver
480-550MB RAM in use
I cannot find a single process using a significant amount of memory. I love Gnome. I even like Unity (2D). Now, BuyVM has a desktop template based on 10.04, but by the time I've added repositories for all of the applications I like and their dependencies, the number "10.04" becomes a matter of opinion.
I feel like a complete newbie with this issue, but you guys have been toying with VPS systems longer than I have. Safe to say that if my full Ubuntu 12.04 desktop installation in Parallels currently running Unity 3D with full acceleration at 2560x1440 on my home system is only using 600-700MB of RAM then I'm doing something horribly wrong on these systems.
Comments
Was it kvm, xen or openvz with vswap?
All OpenVZ.
I've setup very minimal VNC desktops using something like this:
https://my.securedragon.net/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=40
OpenVZ with vswap or openvz with burst ram?
Sorry, looks like BuyVM uses burst I believe. While VPS6 uses vswap.
Not bad. Even that memory usage seems high based on the system he says it's running on there.
root@srv9:~# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 512 123 388 0 0 0
-/+ buffers/cache: 123 388
Swap: 0 0 0
I feel like I'm missing something insanely obvious, right in front of my face.
Here's every step in my process, for anyone curious enough to indulge me
Format with Ubuntu 11.04 64bit
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
apt-get install tightvncserver
vncserver -geometry 1024x768 :1
vncserver -kill :1
nano ~/.vnc/xstartup
add "gnome-session &" to bottom
free -m
total used free
2048--82---1965
----------82---1965
0--------0-----0
vncserver -geometry 1024x768 :1
free -m
total used free
2048--128---1919
----------128---1919
0--------0-------0
VNC in, presented with "It seems that you do not have the hardware required to run Unity. Please choose Ubuntu Classic at the login screen and you will be using the traditional environment."
Click "Close"
Give it a few seconds to load the desktop
free -m
total used free
2048--968---1079
----------968---1079
0--------0-------0
then that's why the vps6 box used less ram.
Yup.
If you really want to shed your RAM you can use CentOS. They either static linked everything or just handle their RAM different and a 'desktop OS' install of centos usually runs at ~200M.
Francisco
I guess I was missing the clearest message of all. That being "no" from the server. Guess I'll keep toying around until I find a happy medium. If any fellow gnome fanboy has any tips for a lighter installation with the ubuntu flavor, I'm all ears.
Ended up with Debian 6 and Gnome. Ubuntu repos only seem to want to fight me the entire way, Debian gives me the same compatiblity with precompiled end-user applications that I desire (although it seems compiled packages for CentOS are almost as common now) while allowing me a simple Gnome install without making me jump through hoops to force it to use a shell other than Unity. Doesn't matter how many times you tell it to use something else, I swear lightdm ignores the config file just for me
Posting this from Midori, sitting at about 350MB usage. Right where I wanted to be.
Alright so now I have a question related to another test I did. Just curious if you guys can share a little information, as I've searched quite extensively and with the addition of vswap to OpenVZ as an option for providers, this question seems to just not be getting asked anywhere that I can find.
What strikes me as odd is that so many applications seem to be loading themselves into RAM when Swap is not available, yet using none of it when it thinks that swap is available, significantly cutting their memory usage, and not crashing. What I've done as a test is forced the OVZ to think that it has swap available. Immediately memory usage drops to insignificant levels. The swap isn't real, it isn't using it (nor can it). There doesn't seem to be a spike in I/O (at least not while idle) and the desktop systems tested seem to launch applications faster. The tested desktops were Gnome 2 on Debian 6 and Ubuntu 11.04, Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 12.04.
My understanding is that faking swap space is dangerous for the stability of the applications being used if they try to utilize the swap. However, if they're performing better and using less memory by merely detecting available swap and not using it, I'm a bit confused as to how any provider would not enable vswap to save RAM (provided they have a sufficient RAID in place). As that doesn't seem to be the case, I'm curious if I am simply not understanding something. Keep in mind, the bulk of my Linux knowledge is outside of OVZ. The platform seems to change the rules of the game quite significantly. I'm trying to soak up what I can.