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To increase swap on an Ubuntu VPS, either replace the existing /swapfile with a larger, non-sparse file or add a second swap file. Replacing it gives you one clean swap area but requires a brief swapoff interval; adding another file reduces that interruption but leaves multiple swap areas to manage. In both cases, check the active configuration first, create the file with secure permissions, run mkswap, enable it with swapon, and add one matching line to /etc/fstab so it returns after a reboot.
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The procedure below assumes a file-backed swap area on an Ubuntu VPS, a target of 4 GiB, and a file named /swapfile. Substitute your confirmed path and size rather than copying those values blindly.
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What “increasing swap” means on a VPS
A swap file is a reserved area of the VPS disk that Linux can use when physical memory is under pressure. It is not additional RAM: disk-based swap is much slower than memory, and allocating more of it does not improve CPU speed or disk capacity. It can, however, provide room for memory spikes and prevent an out-of-memory event when the machine has enough free storage.
Linux treats a swap file as a fixed swap area after it has been initialized. The practical way to make an existing file larger is to deactivate it, remove it, create a new file at the desired size, initialize that file, and activate it again. A second valid approach is to create another swap file, leave the original in place, and activate both. The correct choice depends on available disk space, how much memory pressure the VPS can tolerate during swapoff, and whether you want one or several entries in the persistent configuration.
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Increasing the file size does not resize a currently active area in place. The kernel sees the size established when the file was initialized. That is why the replacement sequence must include swapoff, deletion, allocation, mkswap, and swapon in that order. If you add a second file, each file is initialized and activated independently, and the total shown by memory tools is the sum of all active swap areas.
Choose replacement or an additional file
| Approach | What you do | Advantages | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replace the existing file | Run swapoff, delete the old file, create the larger file, then enable it. |
Leaves one clearly named swap area and a simple /etc/fstab entry. |
During swapoff, pages must fit in RAM or other active swap. The operation can fail or increase memory pressure. |
| Add a second file | Create a distinct path such as /swapfile2 and activate it alongside the first. |
Avoids taking the original area out of service and can be done incrementally. | Creates multiple active areas and requires a separate persistent line for each one. |
Both files and devices can be swap areas. If your provider exposes only a swap partition, enlarging that partition normally involves provider-level or partition-layout work. When free disk space exists, a new file is usually the simpler operational route.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesUse replacement when a single predictable path matters and the VPS has enough available memory to drain the old area. Use addition when avoiding an interruption is more important, when a partition or original file must remain available, or when you want to increase capacity in stages. In either case, compare the requested size with free disk space before starting; every additional GiB is storage committed to swap rather than to applications, logs, updates, or backups.
Inspect the VPS before changing anything
Run the following commands as an administrator or through sudo:
free -h
swapon --show
cat /proc/swaps
grep -nE 'sswaps' /etc/fstabfree -h shows total, used, and available memory and the currently recognized swap total. swapon --show lists active swap areas, their type, size, and usage. cat /proc/swaps is a second view of what the kernel has actually activated. The grep command displays swap-related lines in /etc/fstab, the file used for boot-time activation.
Confirm the exact path before issuing swapoff. Do not assume the active area is /swapfile; it could have another name or be a partition. Also check disk capacity and leave headroom for the operating system, logs, package updates, and applications. A 4 GiB swap file consumes 4 GiB of VPS storage once fully allocated.
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Record the initial output before changing anything. It gives you a baseline for the old size, current usage, and number of active areas. Afterward, you can distinguish a successful increase from a configuration that merely left the old area active. It also helps identify an existing partition or a second file that would otherwise make the final total look larger than the file you created.
Replace an existing swap file with a larger one
The following sequence replaces an active /swapfile with a non-sparse 4 GiB file. If your inspection showed a different path, substitute that path consistently.
1. Disable the old swap area
sudo swapoff /swapfileWait for the command to return. If it fails because memory cannot accommodate the pages being moved, do not delete the file. Restore memory headroom by stopping or restarting a workload, or add and activate a second swap file first; then retry the replacement during a lower-pressure window. An active swap file must be disabled before it is removed.
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2. Remove the old file
sudo rm -f /swapfileThis command removes only the file named in the command. Recheck the path if your existing swap area had a different name. Deleting a file that is still active is an operational mistake; always complete swapoff first.
3. Allocate a 4 GiB, non-sparse file
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=4096 status=progressHere, 4,096 blocks of 1 MiB produce a nominal 4 GiB file. The progress display can take time on a busy or low-performance VPS. This method writes the blocks rather than creating holes. The Ubuntu swapon documentation identifies dd with /dev/zero as the most portable way to create a swap file and warns against files with holes.
Do not substitute a fast allocation command without checking its filesystem behavior. A file that appears to have the requested logical size may contain unallocated holes, and swapon can reject it.
Adjust both count and the path for your target. The example uses MiB-sized blocks, so the count is the number of MiB to write. Make sure the resulting allocation fits the free space you measured; dd writes the file in full and can expose a storage limit before the rest of the setup is complete.
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sudo chmod 600 /swapfileMode 600 allows only the owner, normally root, to read or write the file. Swap can contain pages from processes, so leaving it readable by other users is an avoidable exposure.
5. Write the swap signature
sudo mkswap /swapfilemkswap formats the file as a swap area. It does not activate it. The command should report the file size and a generated swap identifier. If it warns that the file is not suitable, stop and correct the allocation rather than proceeding.
6. Activate the new file
sudo swapon /swapfileThe new area is now available to the kernel. The mkswap documentation explicitly requires a subsequent swapon command to start using a newly created swap area.
7. Make the change persistent
Edit /etc/fstab:
sudoedit /etc/fstabEnsure it contains one line for the file:
/swapfile none swap sw 0 0Remove or correct an obsolete line for the deleted file, and do not add duplicate lines for the same path. The entry tells Ubuntu to activate this file during boot. If an old entry already has exactly this path, keep one valid copy rather than appending another.
Save the file only after checking the path and the fields. The first field must match the file you actually activated; the type is swap; and the options shown above are the standard sw activation options. A manually enabled file can work until reboot even when this line is missing, so persistence must be checked separately from immediate activation.
Add a second swap file instead
Use this method when you want to avoid disabling the original area for long, or when the VPS cannot comfortably move all swapped pages back into RAM. Choose a path that does not already exist; the example uses /swapfile2 and allocates 2 GiB.
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Create a fully allocated file:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile2 bs=1M count=2048 status=progress -
Protect it from non-root users:
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile2 -
Initialize the swap area:
sudo mkswap /swapfile2 -
Activate it immediately:
sudo swapon /swapfile2 -
Add its boot-time entry:
printf '/swapfile2 none swap sw 0 0n' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
After these commands, both files can appear in swapon --show. Keep one persistent /etc/fstab line for each intended swap area. Multiple areas are supported, but each additional file consumes disk capacity and adds another item to maintain.
Check that /swapfile2 was not already listed before using tee -a. Appending blindly can create duplicate boot entries. If you are unsure, inspect the file, add the line once with an editor, and then run the verification commands. The original area remains active, so the reported total should increase by the new file’s size rather than replace the old value.
Remove an additional file later
Deactivate it before deleting it, then remove its persistent entry:
sudo swapoff /swapfile2
sudo rm /swapfile2
sudoedit /etc/fstabIn the editor, delete the /swapfile2 line. Removing only the file while leaving its line in /etc/fstab can cause boot-time activation errors.
Filesystem and allocation caveats
Why holes matter
A sparse or hole-filled file reports a logical length without reserving all of its blocks. The Ubuntu swapon manual warns: “You should not use swapon on a file with holes.” Depending on the filesystem and how the file was created, activation may fail immediately or the file may not provide the storage you expect. Writing the file with dd if=/dev/zero avoids this portability problem.
Why allocation commands differ by filesystem
fallocate can behave differently on ext4, XFS, and copy-on-write filesystems. The Ubuntu documentation calls out additional requirements for Btrfs and identifies dd as the portable fallback. If you do not know the VPS filesystem or its swap-file rules, use the documented dd sequence rather than assuming a fast allocation command is safe.
This caveat matters even when a file listing shows the expected length. Logical size and physically allocated blocks are not always the same, which is precisely the condition that creates holes. The portable sequence trades speed for predictable allocation across the filesystems commonly encountered on VPS images.
Check capacity before writing
The file occupies VPS disk space, so verify that the requested size plus normal operating headroom fits. A failed dd may leave a partial file; remove that incomplete file only after confirming it is not active, then choose a smaller size or free storage.
Do not count swap as free application storage after the change. A larger file can help absorb memory pressure, but it permanently reserves that portion of the VPS disk while it exists. If the provider offers a separate disk or storage volume, that changes the capacity question, but the swap-file procedure itself still requires a correctly allocated file on a supported, writable filesystem.
Swap files versus swap partitions
Ubuntu supports a device as well as a regular file as a swap area. A provider may present a swap partition that appears in swapon --show without any /swapfile path. In that case, do not run file commands against the partition. mkswap can initialize a device, but expanding the partition generally requires changing the partition layout or requesting provider-level capacity.
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When a VPS has free space inside an existing writable filesystem, adding a file avoids repartitioning and is usually the simpler operational route. The inspection commands tell you which arrangement you have before you make a destructive change.
Verify size, activation, and persistence
Run all three checks after replacing or adding a file:
swapon --show
cat /proc/swaps
free -hswapon --showshould list the expected path and size. With two files, both paths should appear.cat /proc/swapsconfirms the swap areas currently known to the kernel.free -hshould show the increased total swap in itsSwap:row.
Then inspect /etc/fstab again and confirm exactly one valid line per intended swap area:
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Compare the post-change total with your baseline, not just with the nominal count in the command. An existing partition or second file may already contribute swap. If the new path is absent, activation failed even if free -h still reports some swap. If the total is unexpectedly high, list every active area and remove only the one you intentionally no longer need.
Swappiness is a separate decision
Increasing the swap-file size does not automatically change how aggressively Ubuntu moves memory pages to swap. Ubuntu’s Swap FAQ records a default swappiness value of 60. Treat this as a separate workload-tuning choice rather than a required step in resizing.
Inspect the current value with:
sysctl vm.swappinessA temporary change can be made with sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=<value>, replacing <value> with the value you intend to test. Observe memory pressure and disk I/O under the actual workload before deciding whether the change is beneficial. If it is deliberate and lasting, place it in an appropriate sysctl configuration file according to your operating procedure; do not confuse that setting with swap-file activation in /etc/fstab.
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There is no need to alter swappiness merely because the file is larger. First establish that the additional capacity is active and persistent, then evaluate workload behavior. A size change and a policy change have different failure modes and should be rolled back independently if either causes undesirable memory or I/O behavior.
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swapon: ... has holes or an invalid argument
The file was likely created sparsely or with a filesystem-specific allocation behavior. Disable it if necessary, recreate it with dd if=/dev/zero, apply mode 600, run mkswap, and activate it again. Do not work around the warning by repeatedly running swapon on the same unsuitable file.
swapoff cannot complete
The VPS may not have enough usable memory to move swapped pages back. Leave the old file intact, reduce workload pressure, or create and activate a second file first. Retrying during a quieter period is safer than forcing the removal of an active area.
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mkswap or swapon reports permission errors
Use sudo for administrative commands and verify the file is owned and protected appropriately. A swap file should normally be mode 600. Also check that the path is on a filesystem mounted read-write.
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Stop and inspect the partial file and available capacity. Do not add an /etc/fstab entry for a file that was not created successfully. Free storage or select a smaller swap size, while retaining headroom for the operating system and applications.
Swap works now but disappears after reboot
The file was activated manually but lacks a correct persistent entry. Add one line such as /swapfile none swap sw 0 0 for each intended file, remove stale or duplicate lines, and verify the active list after the next maintenance reboot.
The total swap is larger than expected
Inspect swapon --show and /proc/swaps for other files or partitions. The total includes every active swap area, not just the file you most recently created. Remove an unwanted area only with swapoff, deletion, and corresponding /etc/fstab cleanup.
The new file is present but not listed
Check each stage rather than repeating the whole procedure blindly. Confirm that mkswap completed, run swapon against the exact path, and inspect the resulting error. Then verify mode 600, available capacity, and whether the filesystem is writable. A correct /etc/fstab line does not activate a file immediately if the manual swapon step failed.
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When more swap is not the real fix
Swap is a safety margin for memory pressure, not a substitute for adequate RAM. If the VPS continually uses swap, response times and disk I/O may suffer even after the file is enlarged. Use the inspection output and workload observations to decide whether the underlying need is more memory, fewer concurrent processes, or additional disk capacity. The swap procedure can prevent a sudden failure during a spike, but it does not make disk-backed pages perform like RAM.
Operational checklist
- Confirm the active path with
swapon --showbefore changing anything. - Record current memory and swap with
free -handcat /proc/swaps. - Check
/etc/fstabfor existing entries and avoid duplicates. - Verify free disk capacity and leave operating headroom.
- For replacement, run
swapoffbefore deleting the old file. - Create the new file with
ddto avoid sparse-file problems. - Set mode 600, run
mkswap, thenswapon. - Persist each intended area with one matching
/etc/fstabline. - Verify with
swapon --show,cat /proc/swaps, andfree -h. - Treat swappiness tuning independently from file-size changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I resize an active Ubuntu swap file in place?
The reliable procedure is to run swapoff, remove the old file, create a new fully allocated file at the desired size, run mkswap, and enable it with swapon. If disabling the old area would create too much memory pressure, add a second file instead.
Is adding a second swap file safe?
Yes. Ubuntu supports multiple swap areas. Give the new file a distinct path, use mode 600, initialize and activate it, and add one separate /etc/fstab line. Remember that every active file consumes disk capacity.
Why does Ubuntu reject my swap file as having holes?
The file is sparse or was allocated in a filesystem-specific way that leaves unallocated regions. Recreate it with dd if=/dev/zero; Ubuntu documents that method as the most portable and warns against files with holes.
Does increasing swap increase RAM?
No. Swap uses VPS disk storage and is slower than physical memory. It can absorb memory spikes, but persistent memory pressure may indicate that the VPS needs more RAM or a workload change.
What should be in /etc/fstab for a swap file?
For the example path, use one line: /swapfile none swap sw 0 0. Keep exactly one valid line for each intended swap area, remove stale entries, and verify after a reboot if you choose to test boot persistence.
Do I need to change swappiness after enlarging swap?
No. File size and swappiness are separate settings. Ubuntu’s documented default is 60. Inspect the current value with sysctl vm.swappiness and change it only after observing the workload’s memory and I/O behavior.
The Bottom Line
Confirm the current swap paths and /etc/fstab first. Replace an active file only after swapoff, or add a second file when memory pressure makes replacement risky. Allocate the file fully with dd, secure it with mode 600, run mkswap and swapon, then keep one matching /etc/fstab entry per swap area. Finish by checking swapon --show, /proc/swaps, and free -h; more swap provides disk-backed headroom, not more RAM.
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