How much RAM is too much RAM

[Seeker-Smith]

I just inherited a server with 64GB of RAM. I set up a VM to host Xenforo. If I were to give that VM 32GB of RAM or 16GB will there be any advantage? I was thinking that for transcoding the extra RAM would be helpful.

 

[duderuud]

First of all, it depends on how big and busy your forum is. If you are just starting out and only have a few posts I guess 4GB is enough.

A large forum can benefit from more memory. One of the rules of thumb is to use the size of your database as a reference. Performance-wise you should give MySQL the same or more memory compared to its size. So if your DB is let's say 8gb in size, give MySQL 8-12GB of memory. If you tune MySLQ correctly, the whole DB can be loaded in memory which should give you a performance boost.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

So my db runs 1GB. Is that a typo "MySQL 8010GB" you mean 810GB? So if I were to give mysql 2 GB it could run from RAM. Cool.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

I should have mentioned as well we have nearly 1 million attachments "photos" I was hoping to speed up delivery of thumbs.

 

[sbj]

(Off-topic: How does one inherit a server like that? Did the old owner pass away and in his last wish he gave it to you?
I wish I had someone giving me a server like that.)

 

[Seeker-Smith]

My son is a security specialist and I get his hand me downs. I just got the I guess blade server 4 10GB SAS drives 4 processors Xeon, and 64 GB RAM. I also got a QNAP TS-879u-rp with 8 red drives which I'm using as a NFS share for disk space.

 

[duderuud]

So my db runs 1GB. Is that a typo "MySQL 8010GB" you mean 810GB? So if I were to give mysql 2 GB it could run from RAM. Cool.

I edited my post but you were too fast reading the original reply

 

[dknife]

What are you transcoding?

 

[Seeker-Smith]

Video files.