HP-UX 11i Internals

Pseudo-Swap

The pseudo-swap approach is one of the least understood features of the HP-UX kernel; hopefully, we can make you comfortable with its purpose and function. Pseudo-swap is enabled in the HP-UX kernel by setting the kernel parameter swapmemon to 1 (this is the default for freshly installed systems). With pseudo-swap enabled, the swap reservation limit is adjusted to include all physical swap plus 75 percent of the system's available memory (87 percent on the latest release). This has been described as “using physical memory for swap space.” While there is a basic truth to this statement, it doesn't tell the whole story. Although pseudo-swap may sound a bit strange at first, it provides several benefits over simply turning swap reservation ...