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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)


NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     swap - swap administrative	interface

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     /sbin/swap	-a [-i][-ppri<b>][-vvlen<b>] name <b>[low <b>[len<b>]]
     /sbin/swap	-d name/lswap <b>[low<b>]
     /sbin/swap	-l [-n][-f][-b]
     /sbin/swap	-s [-b]
     /sbin/swap	-m
     /sbin/swap	-u

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     swap provides a method of adding, deleting, and monitoring	the system
     swap areas	used by	the memory manager.  The following options are
     recognized:

     -a	  Add the specified swap resource.  name is the	name of	the block
	  special partition, for example, /dev/dsk/dks0d1s1 or a regular file.
	  Files	on NFS mounted file systems are	also permitted (see Swapping
	  to NFS Files below).	low is the offset in 512-byte blocks into the
	  partition/file where the swap	area should begin.  If low is absent,
	  a default of 0 is used.  This	value is rounded up to a multiple of
	  the system defined swap page size.  len is the length	of the swap
	  area in 512-byte blocks.  If len is absent, the new swap area	will
	  use the entire partition/file.  This value is	rounded	down to	a
	  multiple of the system defined swap page size.  Files	used as	swap
	  devices must exist and have been previously grown to the appropriate
	  size (see mkfile(1m)).  A maximum of 255 swap	resources can be
	  active at a given time.  This	option can only	be used	by a
	  privileged user.

	  Swap areas are normally added	by modifying the /etc/fstab file to
	  contain the various files and	partitions that	should be added	when
	  the system is	booted.

	  When using the -a or -m option, /etc/fstab is	scanned	for an entry
	  whose	type field contains swap and whose filesystem field matches
	  name.	 name is made into a full path name.  If an entry is found in
	  /etc/fstab, any supplied options are used to supplement any options
	  given	on the command line (e.g. priority).

     -i	  Ignore safety	checks.	 Normally, when	adding a block special device
	  as a swap resource, a	check is made to try to	be certain that	the
	  block	device does not	overlap	any existing file systems.  This
	  option turns off that	check.

     -p	pri
	  Swap resources have a	priority between 0 and 7 inclusive where lower
	  priority swap	resources are allocated	from first.  Within a
	  priority, allocations	are done round-robin.  By default, block
	  devices are assigned a priority of 0,	files on local file systems
	  are assigned a priority of 2 and files on NFS	mounted	file systems



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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)



	  are assigned a priority of 4.	 This option is	only valid when	adding
	  a swap resource.

     -v	vlength
	  Set the virtual length of the	swap area to vlength.  Normally, if
	  this field is	not specified, the amount of logical swap is increased
	  by the size of the physical swap device being	added.	This option
	  tells	the system to increase the logical swap	amount by vlength.
	  Thus,	the difference between vlength and the actual size of the
	  device is amount of virtual swap that	is added.  The virtual length
	  must be greater than or equal	to the physical	length of the swap
	  area.	 If not	specified, the virtual length is set equal to the
	  actual length.  See swapctl(2) for a discussion on virtual swap
	  spaces.  In general, this option should only be used when there is
	  no other way to get enough swap resources (even via NFS) and it is
	  understood the potential problems creating virtual swap can cause.
	  See the discussion of	Logical	Swap Space below.

     -d	  Delete the specified swap resource.  name is the name	of block
	  special partition, for example, /dev/dsk/dks0d1s1 or a regular file.
	  If name starts with a	digit, it is interpreted as the	logical	swap
	  number of the	device to be deleted.  This is useful when the file or
	  device directory entry has been inadvertently	been removed.  low is
	  the offset in	512-byte blocks	into the swap area to be deleted.  If
	  not specified, a default of 0	is used.  Using	this option marks the
	  swap area as ``INDEL'' (in the process of being deleted).  The
	  system will not allocate any new blocks from the area, and will try
	  to free swap blocks from it.	The area will remain in	use until all
	  blocks from it are freed.  This option can be	used only by a
	  privileged user.

     -m	  Add all swap resources specified in /etc/fstab ( type	field is
	  swap).  An entry with	the name /dev/swap is ignored, as are all
	  entries with the noauto option present.  This	option is primarily
	  for the system start up script /etc/init.d/swap which, at boot time,
	  adds all the administrator configured	swap resources.	 This option
	  can be used only by a	privileged user.

     -u	  Delete all swap resources except the original	boot swap resource.
	  This option is primarily for the system shutdown script
	  /etc/init.d/swap which, at system shutdown time, deletes all the
	  configured swap resources.  The original boot	swap resource may be
	  explicitly deleted using the -d option.  This	option can be used
	  only by a privileged user.

     -l	  List the status of all the swap areas.  The output has either	seven
	  or nine columns depending on various options.	 By default, the
	  listing contains nine	columns	and all	values are in 512 byte blocks.
	  The -n option	enables	a new easier to	read output format which
	  defaults to printing the important seven columns (the	additional two
	  columns are printed if the -f	option is specified).  Values with the
	  -n option are	printed	in either bytes, or with the -b	option,	in



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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)



	  512-byte blocks.  The	-f and -b options are only recognized when the
	  new output format is specified.

	  #	  The logical swap number.  This ranges	from 1 to 255.	This
		  is column is labeled lswap in	the default listing format.

	  path	  The path name	for the	swap area.

	  dev	  The major/minor device number	in decimal.  This is printed
		  in the default list format or	in the new format if the -f
		  option is present.  If the swap resource is a	block special
		  device, this major/minor pair	refers to the special device
		  itself.  If the swap resource	is a regular file, the
		  major/minor number is	for the	underlying file	system that
		  the file resides on.	If the stat(2) on path fails, '?,?' is
		  printed.

	  pri	  The priority of the swap resource.

	  swaplo  The swaplow value for	the area in 512-byte blocks.  This is
		  printed in the default list format or	in the new format if
		  the -f option	is present.  This value	is rounded up to a
		  multiple of the system defined swap page size.

	  pswap	  The swaplen value for	the area.  This	value is rounded down
		  to a multiple	of the system defined swap page	size.  This is
		  column is labeled blocks in the default listing format.

	  free	  The amount of	free swap in the area.

	  maxswap The maximum size the area will be grown to.

	  vswap	  The size over	and above any physical space that the system
		  is assuming it can use (see the discussion of	logical	swap
		  space	below, and the -v option above).

	  There	are four status	flags that may be printed after	the last
	  column.  Normally functioning	swap resources will not	have any
	  status flags.	 These flags are:

	  INDEL	  The swap area	is being deleted.  No allocations will be made
		  from this device.

	  EACCES  The swap area	was on an NFS mounted file system and 'root'
		  does not have	permission to write the	file.  The swap	area
		  is immediately taken off line.

	  ESTALE  The swap area	was on an NFS mounted file system and the file
		  was removed on the NFS server.  The swap area	is immediately
		  taken	off line.  Processes with pages	on the swap area will
		  be terminated	abnormally the first time they attempt to
		  access any page that had been	stored on the swap area.



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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)



	  IOERR	  An I/O error occurred	on the device.	This could result in
		  the abnormal termination of a	process.  Look in
		  /var/adm/SYSLOG for more details.  Even with I/O errors, the
		  swap area is still allocated from and	used until deleted.

     -s	  Print	information about total	logical	swap space usage.  Values are
	  printed in either bytes, or with the -b option, in 512-byte blocks.

	  allocated   The amount of swap space allocated to private pages.

	  reserved    The amount of swap space not currently allocated,	but
		      claimed by private memory	mappings.

	  used	      The total	amount of logical swap space that is either
		      allocated	or reserved.

	  available   The total	logical	swap space that	is currently available
		      for future reservation and allocation.

SWAPPING TO NFS	FILES
     Swapping to regular files on NFS mounted file systems is permitted	but
     should be done only with hard mounted file	systems	with the intr option
     turned off	(see fstab(4)).	 When using either soft	mounted	file systems
     or	the intr option, NFS may return	an error during	a swap I/O operation.
     An	I/O error that occurs when swapping in a page causes the process
     requesting	the page to be killed, since it's address space	is no longer
     accessible.  Since	it is possible for the init process to be swapped out
     to	the NFS	file, a	timeout	from a soft mounted file system	that occurs
     while the system is swapping in a page for	init will cause	init to	die.
     Since the system is unable	to run without init, the system	will in	turn
     panic.  Using hard	mounted	file systems without the intr flag avoids
     these problems.

     Even when using hard mounted NFS file systems, the	system may appear to
     hang if the NFS server fails to respond.  If the window manager, shell,
     or	other key process is swapped out to the	NFS file and the server	fails
     to	respond	during swap-in,	then the system	will wait and retry the	NFS
     file read indefinitely.  During this time,	programs attempting to swap-in
     pages from	that server will not run and will appear to be hung.  Once the
     NFS server	starts responding again, normal	system activity	will resume.

     Finally, the system administrator must ensure that	the swap file on the
     NFS server	is not deleted.	 This would cause subsequent swap-ins to fail
     and again cause the associated processes to be killed.

LOGICAL	SWAP SPACE
     Logical swap space	is the sum total of physical memory (less space
     occupied by the kernel) and all swap devices.  The	system reserves
     logical swap space	for the	private	portions of a process's	virtual
     address space (data, bss, stack, MAP_PRIVATE mmap mappings, etc.) when
     virtual address spaces are	created	(via fork(2)), when they are grown
     (via brk(2), sbrk(2), or malloc(3C)), or when new segments	are attached



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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)



     (via mmap(2), or shmat(2)).  Logical swap space is	not required for
     shared text or MAP_SHARED mapped files (except for	mappings of the
     /dev/zero device).	 If the	amount of private virtual space	requested
     exceeds the available logical swap	space, the system call fails with
     EAGAIN and	an "out	of logical swap	space" message is logged on the
     console.  The system does this in order to	prevent	memory deadlocks from
     occurring.

     Note that the system may report being out of swap space when the -l
     option shown above	reports	free swap space	available.  This happens when
     the logical swap space has	been reserved, but physical space has not yet
     been allocated, so	the blocks are still marked as being free.  The	-s
     option to the swap	command	will report the	amount of logical swap space
     reserved and allocated.

     Programs that have	large address spaces and large programs	that fork, may
     receive EAGAIN along with the "out	of logical swap	space" message on the
     console.  This can	also happen when debugging a large program with	dbx or
     other debugger.  There are	two ways to avoid this error: adding more real
     swap space, or adding virtual swap	space.	Adding real swap space means
     allocating	an additional disk partition or	a regular file (either local
     or	remote via NFS)	to be used as a	swap device (using the -a option shown
     above and the examples below).  This is the required approach for
     programs that use most of the virtual addresses they allocate.  The
     advantage of this approach	is that	it continues to	avoid memory
     deadlocks,	but requires physical disk space to be allocated.

     The alternative is	to add virtual swap space using	the -v option.	This
     increases the amount of logical swap space	without	using any physical
     disk space.  This is suitable when	the programs involved do not intend to
     use the virtual address space they	allocate (i.e.,	when the address space
     is	sparse or when a large program that forks intends to exec soon
     afterwards	without	modifying many pages).	In these cases,	physical swap
     space is not required and so adding virtual swap space allows the kernel
     to	complete the logical swap space	reservation and	avoid the EAGAIN
     errors.  The advantage of this approach is	that it	does not require any
     disk space, but adds the risk of encountering a memory deadlock.  Memory
     deadlocks occur when the system has over-committed	logical	swap space by
     allowing the total	private	virtual	space of the processes on the system
     to	exceed real swap space.	 When processes	attempt	to use the allocated
     virtual space, the	kernel has no place to store the data (since virtual
     swap space	has no associated disk space), and a memory deadlock results.
     In	these instances, the kernel kills one or more processes	to free	up
     enough logical swap space to break	the deadlock.  For this	reason,
     virtual swap space	should not be used in cases where the program will
     attempt to	use the	memory.	 For example, programs that expect malloc(3C)
     to	return NULL when there is no more memory will in fact be allocated
     virtual memory that they could not	use without causing a memory deadlock.
     The -v option should therefore be used with care.






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swap(1M)							      swap(1M)


NOTES    [Toc]    [Back]

     The ability to request that a swap	resource be automatically grown	has
     not been implemented.

EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]

     The following swap	example	requests 10K of	swap area (twenty 512-byte
     blocks) on	the device /dev/dsk/dks0d1s1:

	  /sbin/swap -a	/dev/dsk/dks0d1s1 0 20

     The following adds	50Mb of	swap space to the system using a file in the
     /swap directory:

	  /usr/sbin/mkfile 50m /swap/swap1

	  /sbin/swap -a	/swap/swap1

     To	make this swap area permanent (automatically added at boot time) add
     the following line	to /etc/fstab:

	  /swap/swap1 swap swap	pri=3 0	0

     The following example adds	the regular file swap1 as a swap resource.
     Its priority is set to 5, and the system is told that it should add 100
     Mbytes (204800 512-byte blocks) to	the virtual swap total.	 The example
     assumes that swap1	is less	than 100 Mbytes	in length:

	  /sbin/swap -a	-p 5 -v	204800 swap1

     The following line	in /etc/fstab will add the same	swap resource as the
     previous example, except that it will occur automatically at system
     startup time:

	  /swap/swap1 swap swap	 pri=5,vlength=204800 0	0

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /etc/fstab	    swap and/or	vswap to add at	system boot
     /etc/config/vswap.options	   sets	default	size of	virtual	swap at	boot
     /etc/init.d/swap	 adds/removes swap and/or vswap	at boot/shutdown

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

      
      
     mkfile(1M), mount(1M), swapctl(2),	fstab(4).


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