ESX Swap File Size Best Practice

Vmware Swap FileESXi Swap File & VMFS Partitions (Revised on 5-18-12)

Due to the changes with ESXi 5.0, please see the following links at VMware for current specifications on partitioning new installations of ESXi 5.0, or when upgrading to ESXi 5.0 from another version of ESXi.

Another useful vBeginners post on the SWAP file topic can be found at: VMware SWAP File Best Practice

Related ESXi Partition Sizing Post:

I also found a great post on VirtuallyGhetto where William breaks down how to manually create VMFS 5 partition in ESXi 5. His post has step by step instructions and great screen shots. Read more…

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Revised on 1-3-09:

The original post was only for ESX 3.0.x. VMware has redesigned the volume structure for ESX 3.5.x to include the larger volumes. The large SWAP volume is only standard on clean installs of 3.5.x, upgrades of  previous versions will have the smaller volumes. Best practice for upgrading ESX is to do a clean install to remove old version limitations.

Then when running the installation make the following changes and additons to the default volumes:

  • /boot     |  ext3  |  250 MB
  • /swap     | swap  | 2000 MB (largest accessible size) Once this is changed you must increase service console memory in VirtualCenter 2:1 (swap:ram)
  • /               | ext3  | 5120 MB
  • /var        | ext3  | 1024 MB (core files)
  • /var/log | ext 3  | 1024 MB  (logfiles)
  • /tmp       | ext3   | 1024 MB (where updates get downloaded to)
  • /opt        | ext3  | 2048 MB  (where HA log go)
  • / home  | ext3 |  1024 MB  (user files)

 

ESX Custom Partition Sizes (original post)

Do a custom installation of ESX and make your swap partition 1024 MB instead of the default 542 MB. Later you will need the room when you have to increase your service console memory from 272 MB to 512 (800 MB Max) to keep your systems from crashing when you access them from within a service console window.

Cool Bonus Video by Eric Sloof: Configure ESXi Host Swapping to a Solid-State Disk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3vPbYilQfc

Please share your expertise on this topic with us…

 

About The Author

Joe Sanchez

Since 1998, I've been an IT Professional. In this time, I've experienced working as a Help Desk Supervisor, Systems Administrator, VMware Engineer and Manager, Hybrid Cloud & DevOps Engineer and Ops Manager. I'm a published Author of 2 books, Blogger, and IT Infra & Ops VP at Grand Canyon University. I've held certifications as a VCP, CCNA, MSCA, Security+, Network+, A+, SCUM Master, ITIL, and hold an Undergrad degree in Info Technology. I believe creating the best user experience is the top priority. Visit Joe on "LinkedIn". Feel free to leave him your comments below...

5 Comments

  1. dypeTypedroge

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    Reply
  2. Roffarrolve

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  3. Eugene

    Can the swap file on an ESX host be changed after the install? I made the mistake of leaving it as default and now need to expand it.

    Reply
  4. editor

    Hello Eugene,

    My experience trying to change the swap volume after ESX is installed has not been good. I’ve heard it can be done but I’ve found reinstalling ESX easier because you can vMotion the VMs to another host and then do a clean install. There’s a free appliance called Altimate Deployment Appliance that makes loading ESX a breeze and allows for custom installs and scripting. Here’s the link http://www.ultimatedeployment.org/ Hope this helps.

    JS

    Reply

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