Swap space in Linux is used
when the amount of physical memory (RAM) is full. If the system needs more
memory resources and the RAM is full, inactive pages in memory are moved to the
swap space. While swap space can help machines with a small amount of RAM, it
should not be considered a replacement for more RAM. Swap space is located on
hard drives, which have a slower access time than physical memory. Swap space
can be a dedicated swap partition (recommended), a swap file, or a combination
of swap partitions and swap files.
However, modern systems often include hundreds
of gigabytes of RAM. As a consequence, recommended swap space is considered a
function of system memory workload, not system memory.
|
Amount of RAM in the system
|
Recommended swap space
|
Recommended swap space if
allowing for hibernation
|
|
⩽ 2 GB
|
2 times the amount of RAM
|
3 times the amount of RAM
|
|
> 2 GB – 8 GB
|
Equal to the amount of RAM
|
2 times the amount of RAM
|
|
> 8 GB – 64 GB
|
At least 4 GB
|
1.5 times the amount of RAM
|
|
> 64 GB
|
At least 4 GB
|
Hibernation not recommended
|
