Creating a swap file

In linux, disk space that's used as memory storage is called swap. Typically you would setup a separate disk partition as a swap partition, but from time to time it is convenient to add swap to a running system. (creating an additional partition generally requires a reboot)

A swap file can be created with the following commands:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/extra-swap bs=1024 count=1048576 # create a 1Gb file
mkswap /extra-swap 1048576 # format the file as swap
swapon /extra-swap # start swap file

# add swap to fstab so it is automatically started
/extra-swap none swap sw 0 0

Walla, an additional 1GB of swap is now available. This can be confirmed by using the free command.

Bob Weber

My name is Bob Weber and I live in Greeley Colorado. This blog is my personal views, ideas, comments, etc.. You will probably learn more about me by reading the entries here than you will in this bio.