Swap size for large memory machines

[Rick Adams]

The amount of swap space that you need is totally dependant on your
job load.

E.g. I have 64 megbytes of main memory (on A Sequent S81) and can't
even conceive of keeping the system running with 128 meg of swap. I
have over 600 megabytes of swap space.

The only rule that makes any sense at all is main memory + swap space
must be greater than the sum of the memory use of all the processes
on your system at peak load. (This is obvious if you think about it.)

If by coincidence, that makes swap space be twice your main memory, fine.
However, it IS a coincidence and is a bad "rule of thumb" to go
by.

---rick