Arvin Josol
@arvinjosol.bsky.social
I'm Arvin, a Navy veteran turned entrepreneur and cloud consultant, rekindling an old writing habit. I'm allowing my writing here to wander; it's a space where I follow my curiosity and slowly find my voice by simply showing up and writing more.
Docs said 1GB was enough for Ghost.
Reality: OOM crashes.
Fix: swap + tuning.
Now my $5 droplet runs stable. Optimize before you upgrade.
Read my full blog post about this here: arvinjosol.ca/ghost-on-dig...
Reality: OOM crashes.
Fix: swap + tuning.
Now my $5 droplet runs stable. Optimize before you upgrade.
Read my full blog post about this here: arvinjosol.ca/ghost-on-dig...
Ghost on DigitalOcean: How I Fixed OOM Crashes on a 1GB Droplet with Swap
Running Ghost on a 1GB DigitalOcean droplet resulted in crashes with OOM errors. Here's how I fixed it with swap and tuning for a stable, low-cost blog.
arvinjosol.ca
August 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Docs said 1GB was enough for Ghost.
Reality: OOM crashes.
Fix: swap + tuning.
Now my $5 droplet runs stable. Optimize before you upgrade.
Read my full blog post about this here: arvinjosol.ca/ghost-on-dig...
Reality: OOM crashes.
Fix: swap + tuning.
Now my $5 droplet runs stable. Optimize before you upgrade.
Read my full blog post about this here: arvinjosol.ca/ghost-on-dig...
Ghost stayed stable on $5 DigitalOcean after swap + tuning.
No more OOM crashes, no MySQL downtime. 1GB VPS can work—if you set it up right.
No more OOM crashes, no MySQL downtime. 1GB VPS can work—if you set it up right.
August 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Ghost stayed stable on $5 DigitalOcean after swap + tuning.
No more OOM crashes, no MySQL downtime. 1GB VPS can work—if you set it up right.
No more OOM crashes, no MySQL downtime. 1GB VPS can work—if you set it up right.
Swap + tuning fixed Ghost on 1GB:
• Swappiness=10 → use swap only when needed
• Cache pressure=50 → keep cache longer
Result: stability without upgrading.
• Swappiness=10 → use swap only when needed
• Cache pressure=50 → keep cache longer
Result: stability without upgrading.
August 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Swap + tuning fixed Ghost on 1GB:
• Swappiness=10 → use swap only when needed
• Cache pressure=50 → keep cache longer
Result: stability without upgrading.
• Swappiness=10 → use swap only when needed
• Cache pressure=50 → keep cache longer
Result: stability without upgrading.
Swap = overflow memory. Slower than RAM, but on SSDs it keeps small servers alive. On my 1GB droplet, it stopped Ghost from crashing daily.
August 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Swap = overflow memory. Slower than RAM, but on SSDs it keeps small servers alive. On my 1GB droplet, it stopped Ghost from crashing daily.
I'm keeping my search limit to local tech positions. Don't really want to participate in the craziness of a global competition for remote positions.
When I run out of runway, I'll reconsider.
When I run out of runway, I'll reconsider.
August 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I'm keeping my search limit to local tech positions. Don't really want to participate in the craziness of a global competition for remote positions.
When I run out of runway, I'll reconsider.
When I run out of runway, I'll reconsider.
I know my partner @meganjosolart.bsky.social keeps a collection of reference photos. She browses through them when she wants to oil paint.
August 28, 2025 at 6:40 AM
I know my partner @meganjosolart.bsky.social keeps a collection of reference photos. She browses through them when she wants to oil paint.