How to Enable Swap Memory

If you're running WuWei on a VPS with limited RAM (e.g. 2GB or less), enabling Swap Memory can significantly improve stability and performance, especially during high-load tasks like video transcoding or Docker builds.

Note: Swap helps with memory overflow but is not a replacement for RAM. For better performance, consider upgrading your server if possible.

Steps to Enable Swap on Debian

1. Check if Swap Is Already Enabled

swapon --show

If nothing is returned, swap is not active.

2. Create a Swap File

fallocate -l 2G /swapfile

Replace 2G with your desired swap size. A common rule of thumb is:

Swap Size = RAM × 2 (e.g. for 2GB RAM, use a 4GB swap file).

If fallocate is not available or fails, use:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=2048

3. Set Correct Permissions

chmod 600 /swapfile

4. Format the File as Swap

mkswap /swapfile

5. Enable the Swap File

swapon /swapfile

6. Make It Persistent Across Reboots

Add the following line to your /etc/fstab file:

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

Confirm Swap is Active

free -h

You should now see swap memory listed under the Swap row.