Questions regarding Linux swapping.

linuxkernel@NewMail.Net
Mon, 2 Aug 1999 08:34:09 Gmt +2:00


Hello.

There was a discussion of how to optimize Linux's swap
partition on slashdot [www.slashdot.org] not that long
ago.

I have read most of the messages in the discussion queue,
I think I have learned something from those postings,
but I do have several questions to ask you all.

Hope this is the right place to ask. If not, please
forgive me.

>From the Slashdot postings, there were mentions of swap-files
and swap-partitions.

Let's say I have 4 harddisks (not partition, physically
harddisks) in my machine.

Disk A is a 3 GB ide
Disk B is a 2 GB ide
Disk C is a 6 GB scsi
Disk D is a 3 GB scsi

Should I set up swap-areas on each of the disks?

And if so, do I use swap-file or swap-partition?

What is the performance difference between swap-file
and swap-partition?

And in the Slashdot discussions, there were mentioned
about positioning swap-partition in specific areas of
the disk to optimize diskhead read/write action.

Some says putting swap-partitions in the outter-rings
of the disks,
some says inner-rings, while others say somewhere in
the middle.

I am confused.

Which one is correct?

Does it make much differences in positioning the disk-partitions
in the inner-, middle-, or outer-rings of the disk?

There were also talks of how large the swap-areas (swap-files
or swap-partitions) should one provide.

Some said the size of the swap-areas depend on the RAM
size.
Others said it depended on how many applications you
use.

My question about it is:

How should I figure out how large should I make the
swap-area on the disks?

Is there a formula of sort to give some estimation?

I am sorry if these questions were asked before, and
I apologize again if this is not the proper forum to
ask these questions.

But in any case, if you have any answer, please cc.
a copy of your answer to me at linuxkernel@newmail.net
please.

Before I forget, my machine is an Intel PIII 550, with
128M of RAM, and I do use a lot of applications that
consume a lot of RAM space.

Thanks a bunch for any help I can get.

Best regards,
Sean
linuxkernel@newmail.net

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