Paging Space FAQs

Answer

Q- What is paging space?
A- Paging Space is a type of logical volume with allocated disk space that stores information, which is in virtual memory but is currently not being accessed.


Q- When is paging space used?
A- Paging Space is mainly used when there is insufficient memory.
It is more expensive to use a disk as virtual memory than using RAM.
This is why when paging space is being used we don't recommend increasing paging space but instead recommend increasing memory size.


Q-What is the command responsible for paging space information?
A- lsps command is responsible for displaying paging space different characteristics like:

- paging-space name
- physical-volume & volume group names
- paging-space size
- % of paging space used
- whether the space is active or inactive
- paging space type (lv, NFS)


Q- Can paging space size be adjusted dynamically?
A- Yes, paging space size can be increased/decreased dynamically through SMIT or by using the chps -s or chps -d commands.
On the other hand, swapon and swapoff commands are used for activating and deactivating paging space.
However, to remove paging space rmps command is used after swapoff the unneeded paging space.


Q- How will you know if you need more paging space?
A- A message presented on the console which
says "INIT: Paging space is low"
Or, applications will abort with the messages;
"Not enough memory", "ksh: Cannot fork no swap space", "Fork function failed", "unable to fork, too many processes", etc.