Hi Tim,
> > > while sleep 50; do date -Is; swapon -s; done >swap.log
> >
> > Nice, but I'd use:
> >
> > while sleep 50; do swapon -s | logger -t checkswap
...
> > $ sudo grep checkswap /var/log/messages
>
> Ok stupid question time, I assume I just enter
>
> "while sleep 50; do swapon -s | logger -t checkswap" (without the speech
> marks)
No, it needs a `done', e.g.
while sleep 50; do swapon -s | logger -t checkswap; done
> sudo grep checkswap /var/log/messages
Well, that depends on where those log messages end up. If it's in
/var/log/messages then yes. Here, I don't have that file. Being a
systemd Linux means I need to use journalctl(1), as I mentioned before.
Writing to your own local `swap.log' in a temporary directory avoids
this problem, and also doesn't clutter the main logs with swapon's
output every fifty seconds when you've got a time-stamp to investigate.
> Assuming that is correct it has not shown me anything.
Without the `done', the shell's prompt will change, e.g. from `$ ' to
`> ', and it will await from input before even running swapon(8) the
first time.
> Came to my PC this morning, completely locked up, hard disk light was
> going mad and it took around 5 minutes to show me a desktop. I did try
> to ssh in but that just sat there and only allowed me to login once
> the PC had sorted its self out and was showing the desktop.
Classic signs of high swap-space use. Overnight, something had wanted
more and more memory. Everything else got pushed out to slow (spinning
rust?) swap. You turn up and waggle the mouse and all that pushed out
stuff fights to get pull back in. If you're `lucky' then the memory hog
gets pushed out instead.
The quickest way of getting a login, e.g. to `killall firefox', is to
Ctrl-Alt-F1, or F2, to get to a Virtual Terminal's login prompt; no
graphics. Alt-F7, or F8, will return to your graphic VT.
> Tonight I will close both browser down, I have not done that yet as I
> have been adjusting things. I think what is happening is that swap
> disappears and then one of both browsers crash as the data they want
> is in the swap file that has crashed. Still no nearer knowing why swap
> is stopping.
If swap had disappeared this morning then there wouldn't have been a
delay in the desktop being responsive. The main suspects in a memory
leak that causes memory to be used up over time on your system are the
browsers.
Cheers, Ralph.
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