swapinfo - swap utilization issues?

[Gino Castoldi_2]

Hi,

HP-UX 11.0 Oracle 7.1.7.4 MC/SG L2000

When we run 'swapinfo -dftr' it shows PCT USED
is at 97%. However when we run 'swapinfo -tam' it shows PCT USED at 57%. Which one is correct?
Is there really a swap problem or not?

10 points to any good answer.
TIA, Gino

[A. Clay Stephenson · Accepted solution]

Both are correct. The difference is (and assuming that pseudoswap in enabled (swapmem_on=1) is that the -tam includes the pseudoswap space as well as the device/filesystem swap space.

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Gino,

It's the number game. Both are correct, but technically you should be looking at 'swapinfo -tam' for your swap requirements as it includes numbers from pseudo swap.

swapinfo -dft (no r)is helpful for your memory requirements.

Regarding your second question, you have enough swap to bring up the processes. So the question is - do you have enough memory?. You can find it if your total memory utilization is above 95% *and* if you see a non-zero valuein the "PCT USED" of your swapoinfo -dft, then you will be needing more memory as the system is paging out.

*and* is to be noted in the above, because you may still see PCT USED non-zero even if your memory utilization is less than 90% due to memory mapped files.

-Sri

[Gino Castoldi_2]

Hi,

I should assume that pseudoswap means swap space on disk but not memory, correct?

10 points to any good answer.
TIA, Gino

[Steven E. Protter]

This doc contains a good definition, buried deep inside.

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/pdf/A3329-90001.pdf

Short answer: Yes

SEP

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

// should assume that pseudoswap means swap space on disk but not memory//

No. the other way. Pseudoswap means swap allocated from memory (75% initially) if you enabled swapmem_on kernel parameter. It's only for calculation purposes.

-Sri

[Borislav Perkov]

Hi Gino,

You can see my answer about what is pseudoswap to:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=610052

Regards,
Borislav