DEV Community

Bogdan Cornianu
Bogdan Cornianu

Posted on • Originally published at bogdancornianu.com on

Change swap size in Ubuntu 18.04 or newer

[Updated July 26, 2020]: Change swapfile permission; Set swapfile in /etc/fstab.

Swap is a special area on your computer, which the operating system can use as additional RAM.

Starting with Ubuntu 17.04, the swap partition was replaced by a swap file. The main advantage of the swap file is easy resizing.

Note: before running the following commands, please make sure you have a backup of your data!

In the following example, we’ll extend the swap space available in the /swapfile from 4 GB to 8 GB.

  • Turn off all swap processes
sudo swapoff -a
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • Resize the swap
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=8
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

if = input file

of = output file

bs = block size

count = multiplier of blocks

  • Change permission
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • Make the file usable as swap
sudo mkswap /swapfile
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • Activate the swap file
sudo swapon /swapfile
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • Edit /etc/fstab and add the new swapfile if it isn’t already there
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  • Check the amount of swap available
grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The post Change swap size in Ubuntu 18.04 or newer appeared first on Bogdan Cornianu.

Do your career a big favor. Join DEV. (The website you're on right now)

It takes one minute, it's free, and is worth it for your career.

Get started

Community matters

Top comments (0)

Billboard image

The fastest way to monitor

With Checkly, you can use Playwright tests and Javascript to monitor end-to-end scenarios in your NextJS, Astro, Remix, or other application.

Get started now!

👋 Kindness is contagious

Immerse yourself in a wealth of knowledge with this piece, supported by the inclusive DEV Community—every developer, no matter where they are in their journey, is invited to contribute to our collective wisdom.

A simple “thank you” goes a long way—express your gratitude below in the comments!

Gathering insights enriches our journey on DEV and fortifies our community ties. Did you find this article valuable? Taking a moment to thank the author can have a significant impact.

Okay