Prior to using a new instance we configure Disk Swap Space for initial installation of packages and ongoing use.
Configure Swap Space
We remove zram0 on small instances. Swapping compressed data out of RAM memory to swap space freezes the system during a prolonged process – which repeats. This is chronic. Instead, we install classic /swap at 1GB.
Remove zram0 and Install 1GB swap:
dnf remove zram-generator-defaults zram-generator echo "vm.swappiness=20" >> /etc/sysctl.conf echo "vm.vfs_cache_pressure=200" >> /etc/sysctl.conf sysctl -w vm.swappiness=20 sysctl -w vm.vfs_cache_pressure=200 dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=1048576 mkswap /swapfile chmod 0600 /swapfile swapon /swapfile echo "/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
Reboot the instance
free -m
You should see your own swap space. We do not have higher than 1GB as even around 500MB the system starts to come to a crawl. I prefer swappiness of 20 rather than 10.
Various configurations that we use are based on several sources such as Forums, Articles/Blogs, Documentation, and AI.
Disclaimer:
This content is provided as reference only and reflects practical experience at the time of writing. Technology and best practices change, so examples may require modification. No warranty is provided. Always test configurations on a development system before using them in production.