Swap File Creation

This page explains how to create and use a file-based swap in Linux.  This will generally be used in VMware and Xen images to simplify the images.

1. Type the following command to create a 512MB swap file (1024*512 = 524288 block size)

   $ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swap.file bs=1024 count=524288

2. Set up a linux swap area

   $ sudo mkswap /swap.file

3. Activate the swap space immediately

   $ sudo swapon /swap.file

4. To active the swap space after a system reboot, and an entry to /etc/fstab.  Open this file using a text editor such as vim.

   $ sudo vim /etc/fstab

5. Append the following line

   /swap.file              swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

6. Verify swap is activated

   $ free -m

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