> > > > How do I set up the SWAP partition for a Linux diskless client using a Linux > > > > server's diskspace? Thanks. > > > > > > Swapping on an nfs drive is a bad idea. Usually the best thing to do is > > > not have a swap partition at all. > > > > > And what if your memory runs out? > > I think the same thing as if swap runs out, your mallocs fail until space > becomes available, nothing serious. Yep. But as Paul said, memory is the key. Applications load pages on demand so if you have less memory available you may have to request pages more frequently. But think about it, what is the difference between: - requesting a page, getting a fault and having it loaded in from swapfile over the network, and - requesting a page, its not there and so it is loaded from the filesystem over the network in the first case there is the overhead of having a swapfile at all, and it involves copying the same information twice over the network instead of once. This is where you can achieve significant reductions in network traffic by _not_ using a network swap. You need a network swap if you think that you are going to approach the limiting case where your data pages are going to be more than can be held in memory, even when all possible discardable pages have gone. > I would have thought the best way to set up a diskless box was to swap > over NFS, but to add RAM to the box so that the swap is hardly ever used. This is a good solution except where you have a lot of clients who are all likely to run out of resources at once, for example at an educational institution. In this case they all start swapping to the network at once! There is also a similar argument to the one that lead to the invention of token ring after ethernet became popular: if you don't have a swap you can never get flooded by network swapping, if you do but it isn't used much you can never be 100% sure that you won't have a flood. Dan
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