Re: RHEL 4 improvement in use of swap? (compared to RHEL 3)

[Ed Wilts <ewilts ewilts org>]

On Thu, Oct 27, 2005 at 03:20:26PM -0700, robert infotility com wrote:
> My question is, is RHEL 4 known to be better at handling
> virtual memory (swapping in particular) than RHEL 3 ?
> 
> I have an ageing Dell box (2 x 450 MHz cpu, 256 M memory) running
> RHEL 3 update 6 (last updated circa 2005/10/01).
> Today it was running several Java programs, Mozilla, and various
> daemons, and perking along OK. The Java programs are terrible
> memory pigs but GUI apps response to mouse clicks and command line
> response to keyboard input was OK.

You really don't have enough memory.  I've got a RHEL 4 rebuild and was
forced to upgrade it from 256MB with only a single Java app that always
runs, a bunch of Firefox windows, and an occasional use of mutt and ssh.
I'm up to date except for the updates that just got released in the last
day or two.

Frankly, memory is cheap - far cheaper than RHEL is.  I added 512MB of
fairly high-end memory (PC 3200, 400Mhz DDR with ECC) for $80 shipped.
It's been a MAJOR improvement for me and I'm much, much happier.

-- 
Ed Wilts, RHCE
Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts ewilts org
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program