RE: swap space size
Right, from what I have read, the kernel will just start killing processes
when the total RAM+VM space gets filled, which is generally quite bad. Any
swapping is generally bad as it can really slow down a system if it is
getting hit a lot.
I guess the VM is there so that there is a buffer in case it is needed
temporarily and allows for any upgrades that may be needed. Better than
having your mysql server killed mid write.
On a server, it seems this would have much more of an impact than on a
workstation, given the fact that something could go out of whack and take
longer to detect on a server because a workstation user would notice the hit
right away.
I don't see how the kernel could 'tune' things, based on the size of
physical memory since it is not the one starting processes or determining
how much memory they want to gobble.
It would be nice to get some hard facts about this issue but I could just be
overcomplicating the issue in my head.
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: Scarletdown [mailto:gsutton9503@wavecable.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 4:16 PM
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: swap space size
On Thursday 21 October 2004 03:55 pm, Gilbert, Joseph wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> There is an issue that I do not fully understand that I have always
> kind of taken for rote. I was told back when I first started working
> with Unix that the swap space needed to be at least twice the size of
> physical memory in order to ensure a stable system.
>
> Is this truly the case? How big of an issue is it? What are the
> reasons behind it.
I tend to set the size of the swap partition to twice whatever the
maximum amount of RAM a particular system can take. At least, that's
my personal policy on older systems (generally Pentium II or older).
For my primary workstation, I set the swap partition to the max RAM the
board can take (An ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, which can take up to 3GB of RAM,
though I only have 1GB at the moment).
Those are just my preferences. The best way to determine what works
best for you is to simply experiment. :D
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