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7.2. Adding Swap Space

Sometimes it is necessary to add more swap space after installation. For example, you may upgrade the amount of RAM in your system from 128 MB to 256 MB, but there is only 256 MB of swap space. It might be advantageous to increase the amount of swap space to 512 MB if you perform memory-intense operations or run applications that require a large amount of memory.
You have three options: create a new swap partition, create a new swap file, or extend swap on an existing LVM2 logical volume. It is recommended that you extend an existing logical volume.

7.2.1. Extending Swap on an LVM2 Logical Volume

To extend an LVM2 swap logical volume (assuming /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 is the volume you want to extend):
  1. Disable swapping for the associated logical volume:
    swapoff -v /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
  2. Resize the LVM2 logical volume by 256 MB:
    lvm lvresize /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 -L +256M
  3. Format the new swap space:
    mkswap /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
  4. Enable the extended logical volume:
    swapon -va
  5. Test that the logical volume has been extended properly:
    cat /proc/swaps
    free