Re: Debian 10 (Buster) and Swappiness
In-Reply-To: <CA rr08=j=P20g6QzS2R3ohSsuf8QHw73ObV7pvhLRqMiYX_A7Q@mail.gmail.com>
> Hi,
> After upgrading from Debian Stretch to Buster (10), we realize that it
> is not managing memory as before.
> First, even with Swappiness = 0 and having 32 Ram, (16 Gb using) it
> starts using Swap, and the system is slow and crashing.
>
> $ sudo sysctl -a|grep swappiness
> vm.swappiness = 0
>
> thanks in advance
>
> Gustavo
Hi Gustavo, If the system is slow and crashing, then I think something
went wrong with the upgrade. I don't recall seeing anything in buster
release notes about changes im memory management, but maybe it could be a
kernel issue? Is there a backport already on buster? Not sure, might try
that...
I don't really see any point in trying to tweak swappiness myself. The
kernel might need swap space for many reasons IIUC. Here are some links I
saved from yrs past about it.
https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10678
https://scoutapm.com/blog/understanding-page-faults-and-memory-swap-in-outs-when-should-you-worry
http://northernmost.org/blog/swap-usage-5-years-later/
If it was me, I would look elsewhere. Maybe try restoring swappiness, and
any other vm.* settings you have tweaked?
Good Luck,
bw
Reply to: