Constantly running out of swap space

[Adam Vande More]

On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 12:56 PM, Bernard Higonnet <bthcom at higonnet.net>
wrote:

> Using FreeBSD 10.2
>
> I'm using a swap file set up as described at
> https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/adding-swap-space.html
>
> No matter what size I make it (last time 4GB) I run out of swap space on a
> VPS with 768KB RAM. Space is being used by amavisd/clamd which is
> apparently notorious space hungry, but it's clear to me there's a problem
> somewhere. Everything works OK for a while (a few hours? on a system with
> very little traffic (100 emails a day...)) and then runs out of space.
>
> I assume amavisd/clamd are not using swap space explicitly and the OS
> decides on is own that swap space is needed
>

Only the kernel controls VM, not userland.  Userland tools can only make
requests.


> Any suggestions?
>

If it was me, I'd remove any file backed swap you may have already added
and then configure whatever is using swap to consume less.  In your case,
amavisd/clamd have settings which will do so.  I would also eliminate any
unnecessary services on the box.  Your VPS provider may also be able to
provide you with a separate block device which can be used as dedicated
swap although I would avoid doing that under most circumstances.


-- 
Adam