[Leaplist] Creation of Swap

[David Simmons]

> Another way of looking at the swap partition is as a fuse or
> idiot light -- if you swap often, you need more RAM.

Actually....that's not always correct.  Linux is not like
Windows...grin.  The Linux kernel will put things into swap that it
doesn't need much - like a storage.  That can make the system run
better as it uses the memory for what/when it really needs it.

You are correct that if your daily, day-to-day stuff is always swapping
- then, yes, you need more ram.  But if your kernel puts some stuff
info swap because you don't need it - then swap is a good thing!?

Guess the real question is how much swappiness you have going on. 
Yes, swappiness is a correct phrase....read about it here:

http://kerneltrap.org/node/3000

I love this comment:


I don't know. What if you have some huge application that only
runs once per day for 10 minutes? Do you want it to be consuming
100MB of your memory for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes for
no
good reason?


Just some thoughts - Dave



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