Linux – Faster alternative to echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

cachelinuxlinux-kernelperformance-monitoring

On a system with huge memory available: 12TB of RAM 

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

takes like half an hour to complete.

Does anyone know a faster alternative to drop_caches?
I'm using RHEL 6.5 on this server. Do you know if more recent RHEL (like 6.6+ or 7+) improves drop_caches speed ?

Best Answer

If you need to reset the system after a test run, why not quick reboot using kexec-reboot?

This would probably reboot the server in 45-60 seconds, and is a much cleaner approach to what you're doing.

Also see: Is it possible to reboot a Linux OS without rebooting the hardware?

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