title: What is active memory and inactive memory
body: <p>What is active memory and inactive memory? I am executing the command <code>vmstat -a</code> on a Linux machine and I am getting the following output:</p>
  
  <pre><code>vmstat -a
  procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- -----cpu------
   r  b   swpd   free  inact active   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa st
   1  0 249900 4801880 2649428 8246152    0    0    42    31    0    0  4  0 95  0  0
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But I am not getting what exactly active and inactive memory is... Could you please elaborate?</p>