Greetings all,
I am planning new server installation. The operating system will reside on SSDs (mirrored) and the data on mechanical hard drives. I am wondering whether to use SWAP partition or swap file.
As best as I understand, a SWAP partition needs to be mirrored and only the allocated partition space can be used. This appears to be inefficient use of space; furthermore, the SSD limited write capacity may pose a problem.
On the other hand, the swap file may compete for the space resources up to its defined size anywhere on the pool, which appears to be using the space efficiently and mitigates the limited write capacity.
Although the above analysis would point to the latter, I have found the following article: http://www.schmidp.com/2014/01/05/freebsd-10-does-swap-work-on-a-zvol/, arguing that using swap space either on ZFS filesystem or in a ZVOL has a potential to render the system non-responsive.
Since I am by no means an expert, I thought that I would ask:
1. Is my understanding correct?
2. Is my concern regarding limited write capacity of the SSD reasonable?
3. What would be the best practice for a stable system?
Kindest regards,
M
I am planning new server installation. The operating system will reside on SSDs (mirrored) and the data on mechanical hard drives. I am wondering whether to use SWAP partition or swap file.
As best as I understand, a SWAP partition needs to be mirrored and only the allocated partition space can be used. This appears to be inefficient use of space; furthermore, the SSD limited write capacity may pose a problem.
On the other hand, the swap file may compete for the space resources up to its defined size anywhere on the pool, which appears to be using the space efficiently and mitigates the limited write capacity.
Although the above analysis would point to the latter, I have found the following article: http://www.schmidp.com/2014/01/05/freebsd-10-does-swap-work-on-a-zvol/, arguing that using swap space either on ZFS filesystem or in a ZVOL has a potential to render the system non-responsive.
Since I am by no means an expert, I thought that I would ask:
1. Is my understanding correct?
2. Is my concern regarding limited write capacity of the SSD reasonable?
3. What would be the best practice for a stable system?
Kindest regards,
M