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Swap Files
General Information
Swap can be increased by resizing partitions, adding new partitions formatted as swap, or by creating swap files. Swap files are useful if you need to utilize existing volumes and cannot resize the swap partition.
Checklist
- Distro(s): Any
Create a Swap File with DD
Create a block file called “swapfile” in /home/ that is 1GB.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/home/swapfile bs=1024 count=1048576
Explanation:
- bs: write 1024 bytes at a time (or 1K)
- count: 1024K * 1024K = 1048576K (or 1GB)
Format the File
mkswap /home/swapfile
Enable the Swap
swapon /home/swapfile
Verify Swap is Used
swapon -s Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/mapper/vgroot-lvswap partition 4194300 124872 -1 /home/swapfile file 1048572 0 -2
Enable this Swap File After a Reboot
Edit /etc/fstab and add:
/home/swapfile none swap sw 0 0