Is this normal?
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is this type of memory usage normal?
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Depends on what you are doing. What is the usage?
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Why is your RAM usage so erratic? Are you using Snort or Squid by any chance?
The patterns look like some RAM consuming package stops and restarts… when it stops the usage falls and when it starts backup it either shooting up the usage or gradually comes to a point where it needs to restart again.
Please post your installed packages and hardware config for the box.