Linux SWAP
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I've installed swap (on a CIFS share, but it should work on a USB device the same way) | I've installed swap (on a CIFS share, but it should work on a USB device the same way) | ||
- | without needing optware by using this method: | + | without needing optware by using this method - why install an entire second busybox when all you need is the swap-utils ipkg (and optionally kmod-loop and kmod-ext2 if you're going to access the swap via a CIFS share): |
<code> | <code> |
Revision as of 06:01, 29 August 2009
Contents |
Introduction
What is SWAP?
Swap space is an auxiliary storage, such as a portion of a hard-disk, which can be used as memory by the operating system when system RAM is insufficient. This is especially useful on systems with very little system RAM, such as most DD-WRT compatible routers, as it helps prevent the system from running out of memory when multiple background processes are installed.
Do I need SWAP?
Swap can be helpful in situations where dd-wrt:
- runs memory intensive applications (Optware)
- runs multiple background processes (again, Optware)
- runs on a router with less than 32 MB of RAM
Swap won't really be needed if:
- you only use the router for its basic gateway/AP functions
- you only run a few additional services or applications with modest memory requirements
- your system has a lot of RAM (such as 64+ MB)
It is strongly advised that you do not enable swapping on flash-based drives (internal flash, SD/MMC, USB sticks)
Requirements
In order to use paging, you first need an external storage. This means that users with neutered routers (like the WRT54G v5) that only have 2MB of flash and run the Micro build of DD-WRT cannot enable swapping in any way. For everyone else, it's recommended to usb-attached HDDs or SSDs for swap space, as opposed to SD/MMC/flash disks. The reason is that swap is read/write intensive and will lead to flash wear.
The utilities required to enable swapping require your router to have Optware support. Follow the tutorial on installing ipkg-opt. Once you have ipkg-opt properly installed, connect to the router via telnet/ssh and issue the following commands (be advised as you may have problems if you didn't install optware support correctly!):
/opt/bin/ipkg-opt update /opt/bin/ipkg-opt install busybox
I've installed swap (on a CIFS share, but it should work on a USB device the same way) without needing optware by using this method - why install an entire second busybox when all you need is the swap-utils ipkg (and optionally kmod-loop and kmod-ext2 if you're going to access the swap via a CIFS share):ipkg install swap-utils ipkg install kmod-loop ipkg install kmod-ext2 insmod /jffs/lib/modules/2.4.30/loop.o insmod /jffs/lib/modules/2.4.30/ext2.o dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/smbshare/swap.ext2 bs=1 seek=64M echo y | mke2fs -L optware /tmp/smbshare/swap.ext2 mkdir /tmp/swap mount -o loop /tmp/smbshare/swap.ext2 /tmp/swap dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/swap/swapfile bs=1024 seek=64K mkswap /tmp/swap/swapfile swapon -p1 /tmp/swap/swapfile
Test if the swap is working withswapon -s
--Azuretech 07:50, 29 August 2009 (CEST)
Enabling swap
Using a swap file
To enable swapping using a swap file, you need to first create the file, prepare it for swapping and then enable the swapping on it.
Creating a swap file
First of, make sure the file system the disk you wish to swap on is properly mounted. For the purposes of this tutorial we will assume the disk is mounted as /mnt and we want to use the file /mnt/myswap.swp for swapping.
Use the following command to create a 16MB file that we will use for swapping:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/myswap.swp bs=1k count=16000
Preparing the swap file
Before we enable the swap file we must first set it up. The following command accomplishes just that:
/opt/bin/busybox mkswap /mnt/myswap.swp
Enabling the swap file
Now that the swap file has been created and set up, we need to enable swapping on it, using swapon:
/opt/bin/busybox swapon /mnt/myswap.swp
Using a swap partition
Setting up a swap partition is a bit more difficult, as the partition must be first created then formatted using the linux-swap file system. Once that is done, assuming the swap partition is at /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 (common for v24 USB drives with mutiple partitions), the only command that needs be issued is:
/opt/bin/busybox swapon /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5
Checking swap
The easiest way to check if swap is working is to use the free command. Below is a sample output of the free command on a system with 32MB RAM and a 64 MB swap partition.
root@MyRouter:/opt/bin# free total used free shared buffers Mem: 29340 27652 1688 0 1184 Swap: 64220 300 63920 Total: 93560 27952 65608 root@MyRouter:/opt/bin#
Alternatively, if you have syslog enabled, you can check the file /var/log/messages for any system-generated swap-related messages.