Swap File Options Coming in Kernel 5.7
There’s a last-minute feature coming to the 5.7 iteration of the Linux kernel, one that might make some admins pretty excited. Said feature is the ability to configure a remote swap file over a network, with SMB3.
This feature is only experimental and poses some obvious issues (performance and security being the biggest). However, using an SMB3 mount as an option for swap could have ramifications for the likes of embedded Linux, where the lack of internal storage space doesn’t always accommodate swap. Or maybe if your network has a multi-terabit backbone, it’s possible to set up multi-level paging to a large fault-tolerant flash array.
This new piece of technology doesn’t come without possible deal-breaking concerns, such as network delays causing page breaks and faults, or when a network needs to allocate memory for buffers which could lead to a kernel failing to allocate memory. However, as with any experimental feature in a kernel, only time will tell as to whether or not swap over SMB3 will succeed.
Even so, this new addition does open up possibilities when there isn’t a local block device available for swap or a software (such as a Kubernetes cluster) doesn’t allow for the use of local swap.
In the end, it’s important to remember this feature is experimental, so the full implications are yet to truly reveal themselves.
Original merge: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4119bf9f1d093b495f5fe3fcb32bde3156d2ba6e
Related content
-
Managing Linux Memory
Even Linux systems with large amounts of main memory are not protected against bottlenecks and potentially drastic performance degradation because of memory shortage. In this article, we investigate the complex causes and test potential solutions. -
Optimizing Windows Server 2016 performance
With Windows Server 2016, tweaking the settings and taking advantage of performance monitoring tools can help boost your system's performance. -
Processor and Memory Metrics
One goal of HPC administration is effective monitoring of clusters. In this article, we talk about writing code that measures processor and memory metrics on each node.
-
LXC 1.0
LXC 1.0, released in early 2014, was the first stable version for managing Linux containers. We check out the lightweight container solution to see whether it is now ready for production. -
Top Top-Like Tools
Admins solve problems ranging from slow servers to failing applications. The first tool I reach for when I need to check on a server with shell access is Top.
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Most Popular
Support Our Work
ADMIN content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
