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Swap space in AWS EC2 instances

In this article, we will discuss swap space in AWS EC2 instances.

Purpose

In the Linux EC2 instance, whenever the physical RAM is full. We can use swap space as an alternative to RAM.

Which Contents Are Transferred To Swap Space?

The following contents are transferred from RAM to swap space: -

Content that is not in active use
Content that is not required urgently

How To Implement Swap Space?

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=128M count=32

Here the memory of the swap space is 128M X 32 = 4096M (or 4 GB). Update the read and write permission of the swap file using the following command: -

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

Set up the Linux swap area.

sudo mkswap /swapfile

Make the swap file available.

sudo swapon /swapfile

Start the swap file at boot time by editing the /etc/fstab file.

sudo vi /etc/fstab

Add the following new line at the end of the file, save the file, and then exit.

/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0

How To Check If A Swap Space Is Implemented Successfully?

free -m

Picture showing checking the swap sapce using the free -m command

Click to Enlarge

sudo swapon -s

Picture showing checking the swap space using the sudo swapon -s command

Click to Enlarge

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Thursday, May 12, 2022

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