Setting Swapfile on Ubuntu

May 8, 2024 • ubuntu swapfile linux • 2 minutes to read • Edit

When you are running out of memory on your Linux system, the OS starts killing processes to free up the memory. This is not a good idea, as it can lead to data loss. To avoid this, a swap file is used. By default, Ubuntu creates a swap file during installation. However, if you want to create a new swap file or change the size of the existing swap file, you can do so by following the steps below.

How to check if a swap file is already present?

To check if a swap file is already present, run the following command:

sudo swapon --show

You should see the swap file listed if it is present. On my system, the output is as follows:

NAME      TYPE      SIZE USED PRIO
/dev/dm-2 partition 1.9G   0B   -2

Ubuntu has stopped using swap partitions and has started using swap files. But for me, the swap file is not listed instead a swap partition is listed - /dev/dm-2.

How to set it up then?

open a terminal and follow the steps below:

List the current swap file

sudo swapon --show

# NAME      TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
# /dev/dm-1 file  20G   0B   -2

Switch off the running swap file (this will take a while depending on the file size)

sudo swapoff /dev/dm-1

Create a new file with required file size, here is an example of one with 16 GB

sudo fallocate -l 16G /swapfile

Change the access permissions so that only root can access it

sudo chmod 0600 /swapfile

Set this as the swap space

sudo mkswap /swapfile

Activate the swap space

sudo swapon /swapfile

You can confirm if by typing

sudo swapon --show

# NAME      TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
# /swapfile file  20G   0B   -2

Make it persistent, so that the swap file is mounted automatically on system boot. There are two ways to do this:

# Create a backup of the fstab
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

# Edit the fstab file
sudo nano /etc/fstab

# Add the following line at the end of the file
/swapfile       swap            swap    defaults          0     0

OR

Instead of using nano, you can use the following command to append the line to the end of the file:

echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Conclusion

That’s it! You have successfully set up a swap file on your Ubuntu system. If you have any questions or face any issues, feel free to leave a comment below.