How to limit CPU and memory usage for node processes

Question

I would like to install a Ghost Blog on a shared server via GitHub. During the installation, I need to run npm install, grunt init and grunt prod. My host provides 500 MB memory usage, if a process uses more than 600 MB it kills it.

Therefore I need an option to limit the memory usage of these processes because they all need more than 500 MB of memory!

I tried to run the processes with --max-old-space-size=450 but it does not seem to work.

I would be glad if anyone could provide me a link to a tutorial or documentation about running node processes with options.

Thank you!

UPDATE: Since I’ve posted this the installation of Ghost has changed completely.

If your host OS is linux you can use cgroups to limit memory usage of ANY process. — slebetman, Sep 15 '15 at 09:17
cgroups isn’t in stalled, and i am not allowed to install it. But thank you! — PDXIII, Sep 15 '15 at 11:02
slebetman could you give an example of how to use cgroups to limit memory usage of a process? — Glen Thompson, Dec 03 '18 at 03:09

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 26 '20 at 00:12

20

From node v8+, typing the following:

node --help

show a --v8-options option. Then typing:

node --v8-options

gives:

...
--max_old_space_size (max size of the old space (in Mbytes))
    type: int  default: 0
--initial_old_space_size (initial old space size (in Mbytes))
    type: int  default: 0
...

I have managed to use the first option like this:

node --max-old-space-size=250 `which npm` install

Here we told node to limit RAM usage to 250Mo, the 'which npm' part gives the current npm path and 'install' is the script you want to run.

edited Jun 26 '20 at 00:12

vivek_ganesan

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19

answered Jan 22 '18 at 22:07

Quentin Petel

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1

Probably I don’t need is anymore, but out of curiosity let’s say I have a typical npm project with a _package.json_ and I want to limit the CPU usage of the ```start``` script, I can navigate to the app directory and type ```node --max-old-space-size=250 npm start```. – PDXIII Jan 28 '18 at 21:17
2

@PDXIII Absolutly ! I currently have an automated deployment pipeline on a project that execute this command to avoid exceeding the maximum RAM usage amount allowed by a limited Docker container. – Quentin Petel Jan 31 '18 at 00:01

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered May 07 '21 at 14:05

5

I use the following and it works like a charm

NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=50 npm install

answered May 07 '21 at 14:05

Megacier

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Steven McConnon · Answer 3 · 2016-12-13T10:29:29.433

3

This is how you do it.

You send a command to limit the ram usage.

npm install --max-old-space-size=400

edited Dec 13 '16 at 10:29

answered Dec 13 '16 at 10:18

Steven McConnon

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Thank you for your answer. But as I described in my original post, I’ve tried that and it did not seem to work. But anyway I found a work around. – PDXIII Dec 14 '16 at 12:23
@tomexx I just didn’t. I worked around it. The project I wanted to build on the server I built it locally. – PDXIII Feb 08 '17 at 16:18
@PDXIII Ahh :( Thats a pity. – tomexx Feb 09 '17 at 09:33

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 21 '23 at 21:58

0

To limit the CPU usage to 80%:

cpulimit -l 80 npm install

install

sudo apt-get install cpulimit # Debian based
# OR
sudo yum install cpulimit.    # REHL based

answered Aug 21 '23 at 21:58

Ericgit

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How to limit CPU and memory usage for node processes

4 Answers4

install

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