gary@mehlville.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Gary Faulkner) (08/17/89)
This is not documented anywhere, but I wonder if it is possible anyway. I have a VaxStation II with an RD54. I currently swap to the "b" partition on this drive (16 meg). I would like (need) more swap space without buying an additional disk drive. My root and usr partitions are also on this drive, and basically full. Is there ANY way I can swap to the "b" partition and also to a swap file on a remote machine? (in other words, is there any way to configure it that it thinks it is a diskless system, while still swapping locally? Thanks... Gary Faulkner National Center for Supercomputing Applications University of Illinois Internet: garyf@mehlville.ncsa.uiuc.edu Disclaimer: I've only stated my opinion, not anyone elses.
heins@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Leeland Heins) (08/18/89)
In article <1792@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu> gary@mehlville.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Gary Faulkner) writes: >This is not documented anywhere, but I wonder if it is possible anyway. > >I have a VaxStation II with an RD54. I currently swap to the "b" partition >on this drive (16 meg). I would like (need) more swap space without buying >an additional disk drive. My root and usr partitions are also on this drive, >and basically full. Is there ANY way I can swap to the "b" partition and also >to a swap file on a remote machine? (in other words, is there any way to >configure it that it thinks it is a diskless system, while still swapping >locally? Bleagh. You don't want to swap over a net. It will seriously hose performance both of your local machine and the network throughput. I'd say you'd be better off blowing away some of the stuff you don't use often on the / or /usr partitions and accessing them across the net in the rare instances you need them. You could then shrink the /usr partition and enlarge the swap space. We generally blow away as much stuff as we can on systems with small drives and use compress on as much stuff as possible that we do keep. Compress can buy you quite a lot of space sometimes. Really you'd be better off just biting the bullet and getting another drive or replacing the RD54 with a larger drive... Painful to the pocketbook but worth it in the long run. >Gary Faulkner >National Center for Supercomputing Applications >University of Illinois > >Internet: garyf@mehlville.ncsa.uiuc.edu > >Disclaimer: I've only stated my opinion, not anyone elses. //|||\\ "Attack of the killer Lee Heins, EXNET Programmer //-O-O-\\ mutant techno-hippies Iowa State U. Extension || v || from Hell" heins@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu || === || ...!hplabs!hp-lsd!atanasoff!heins || --- || /// `|' \\\ Disclaimer: I speak for myself only.
grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) (08/19/89)
In article <1792@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu> gary@mehlville.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Gary Faulkner) writes: > > I have a VaxStation II with an RD54. I currently swap to the "b" partition > on this drive (16 meg). I would like (need) more swap space without buying > an additional disk drive. My root and usr partitions are also on this drive, > and basically full. Is there ANY way I can swap to the "b" partition and also > to a swap file on a remote machine? (in other words, is there any way to > configure it that it thinks it is a diskless system, while still swapping > locally? It seems you might be able to do this, since the "swap-type" is maintained on a per swap area basis. That doesn't mean it isn't "broken" in some excruciating way. Also, assuming it did work, it might not give you the "local" swapping effect you want, since the system supposedly attempts to distribute swapping over all the swap areas to minimize seek bottlenecks. You may want to also look at whether you are "wasting" swap area to an unneccssary extreme - vmmin * gettytab entries can be expensive and you may be able to cut things by playing with vmmin or getting rid of excess login entries. On the other hand, if you are trying to support numerous copies of gnuemacs or windowing sillyness, tuning is pretty futile. As others have suggested, getting another disk or a bigger drive is probably the best long-term solution. You'll be happier in all ways. Third party vendors will give you a much better deal than DEC for add-on drives. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)