[clug] to swap or not to swap that is the question

Kim Holburn kim.holburn at anu.edu.au
Tue Jun 29 12:00:29 GMT 2004


I have read several places that linux systems are always better with 
(HD) swap (suggestions were that swap allows the system to not run out 
of memory).  I don't understand this.

Suppose you have a system with say 1G of RAM and swap of 2G.  How is 
that better than say a system with 2G of RAM (or even 3G RAM).

Is it because HD is so much slower that the wait causes everything to 
slow down?

Help me out here - inquiring minds etc....

Kim
-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Manager, Canberra Research Laboratory
National Information and Communication Technology Australia
Ph: +61 2 61258620 M: +61 417820641
Email: kim.holburn at anu.edu.au  - PGP Public Key on request
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                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961



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