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I'm using 12.04 LTS and can sudo sysctl to set swappiness to 10, but adding vm.swappiness=10 to sysctl.conf doesn't work for me - after I reboot, swappiness still reports 60 (default)

I'd like to be able to reduce swaps to my SSD, but can't find a way to do so except manually per session. Modifying sysctl.conf seems to work for most - can anyone advise what I need to check / change to make it work for me too, please?

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2 Answers

What I usually do is create a custom rule in /etc/sysctl.d/ instead of editing the main sysctl file. Change directory to sysctl.d and create your file:

cd /etc/sysctl.d/ 
sudo touch 60-my-swappiness.conf

Then run your favourite text editor:

sudo nano 60-my-swappiness.conf

Enter your value at the top of the file, for example, vm.swappiness = 10 (there must be spaces between swappiness and the value as shown).

As it recommends in the readme in /etc/sysctl.d/, run

sudo service procps start

for the system to read the new values and then reboot.

The reason why we use 60 at the start of the my-swappiness.conf is so that your custom rule overrides any other rules in the directory.

Check that you have the correct swappiness with

cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

This works for me, but there is more guidance on swap and swappiness in the Ubuntu guide if you need any more detailed information.

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  1. See what the current value is for the swappiness setting:

    sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness (It should give a number of 60 here)

  2. Change the value to a lower number

    sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=5

  3. Check the value again.

    sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness (Now, it should give a value of 5 here)

  4. gksu gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

    Paste the following line on the text file that opened:


  5. Reboot.

  6. Check the setting again to confirm the changes were made:

    sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness (Now, it should give a number 5 here)

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