How to create a swap file in Ubuntu Linux

Intro

Have you ever wondered how to create a Linux Swap File? Well here is how to do it quickly.

I generally set the swapfile to at least 2GB+ more space then the memory (ram) size.

Create the swap-file

1. Create the swap-file size you want (8GB demonstrated)
   • sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile
2. Set the permissions of the swap-file
   • sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
3. Formats the swap-file directory
   • sudo mkswap /swapfile
4. Enables the swap-file
   • sudo swapon /swapfile
5. Configures the swap-file to be used on startup
   • sudo sh -c ‘echo “/swapfile none swap sw 0 0” >> /etc/fstab’
6. Verify your swap file configuration is correct
   • cat /etc/fstab
7. If you see the following “/swapfile none swap sw 0 0” on the last line you completed the steps correctly.