Date: 07 Oct 2001 15:27:41 -0700 From: swear@blarg.net (Gary W. Swearingen) To: "default" <default013subscriptions@hotmail.com> Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: ideal swap partition space... Message-ID: <mny9mngk6a.9mn@localhost.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <OE44wbymh2v8nBmiZDu0000a388@hotmail.com> References: <OE44wbymh2v8nBmiZDu0000a388@hotmail.com>
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"default" <default013subscriptions@hotmail.com> writes: > I'm curious about setting up the amount of space for the swap partition... > is there any ideal amount for FreeBSD? Yes. None. > Or is it dependant on the size/type > of hard drive & other hardware that one has? If so, is there any kind of > equasion or theory behind determining what is the best amount to provide for > the best performance? Same answer. > Is there such a thing as a swap partition that is too large? Too large for what? I don't know what the configuration limit is. My swap partition is 500 MB. Assuming that your amount of RAM is fixed, then a fairly simple general rule is this: Determine how much virtual memory you want (how much is required by the programs you want to have running (or waiting, etc) at the same time) and subtract the amount of RAM you have. Then add back on whatever safety margin you feel is reasonable, given the size of your hard disks and the memory-leakiness of your software (which I used to have to consider on Linux, but don't on FreeBSD). My biggest memory consumers are X11, one or two copies of XEmacs, Netscape, and software compiling. I've got 64 MB RAM and doubt if I've ever used much more than that much of my 500 MB of swap. (I keep a small xosview display of memory-types usage always visable.) Forget the two-times thing; it's needlessly simple, leaving out any consideration of what software you want to run or how big your hard disks are. It does have the benefit of requiring only a second of thought as opposed to having to make estimates and predictions. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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