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Ubuntu - Swap - Increase Swap Size
Recent releases of Ubuntu use swap file instead of the traditional swap partition.
- The swap file is simply a file under the root which is used as swap to share the burden on the RAM.
- The biggest advantage of using a swap file is that it is easy to resize.
- That’s not always the case when a dedicated swap partition is used.
IMPORTANT:
- If you are using a swap partition and want to increase the swap size, you can still go ahead and create a swap file.
- Linux can use multiple swap spaces as needed; and this way, there is no need to touch the partition.
Check if there is a swap file in the system
swapon --show
returns:
NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO /swapfile file 4G 2.1G -2
NOTE: This shows that there is a swapfile.
- *TYPE: If this shows file, it indicates that a swap file is being used. </WRAP> —- ===== Take the swap file offline ===== Before resizing the swap file, turn the swap off. <code bash> sudo swapoff /swapfile </code>
NOTE: The command does not produce any output and it may take a few minutes to complete.
Make sure that there is enough free RAM available to take the data from swap file.
- Otherwise, create a temporary swap file.
—- ===== Resize the swap file ===== <code bash> sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile </code> —- ===== Mark this file as a swap file ===== <code bash> sudo mkswap /swapfile </code>
NOTE: There should be some output where it warns you that the old swap signature is being wiped.
—- ===== Enable the swap file ===== <code bash> sudo swapon /swapfile </code>
NOTE: All done!
- The new swap file is created with the increased swap size.
—- ===== Check the swap size ===== <code bash> swapon –show </code> and <code bash> free </code> —-