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zram
zram (previously called compcache) can create RAM based block devices. It is a module of the mainline Linux kernel since 3.14. Starting with kernel version 3.15, zram supports multiple compression streams and the ability to change the compression algorithms used.
Introduction
The zram driver creates a compressed block device in ram. That block device can then be used for swap or general purpose ram disk. The two most popular uses for it are swap to extend the available amount of ram to processes and /tmp. The ram used for the block device is dynamically obtained and released up to it's predefined uncompressed maximum size. The way it extends the amount of available ram to a system is by using a portion of the ram as compressed swap. It can therefore hold more pages of memory in the compressed swap than the amount of actual memory used. Typically it compresses to a 3:1 ratio. So, 1G of swap uses only 333MB of ram on average. The compression ratio including memory used for disk overhead varies depending on the % maximum space used. I found it to vary from 1.5:1 for a 1.5G disk with only 5% space used, to over 3:1 when nearly full. It also is much faster at swapping pages than typical hard disk swap.
My experience with using it, my system is still fully functional, with only slight slow downs at times. This is for a Xfce4 desktop with several apps and emerge running with PORTAGE_NICENESS=10. The memory and swap spaces were nearly maxed out. Intel Core2 Quad core 2.6Ghz, 4G ram. I had 4 - 1.5G zram disks for swap, plus 1G partition of hard drive swap as backup. At one point during linking chromium, I saw the system using just over 5G of zram swap, while using about 1.2G of ram, about 100MB of hard disk swap. The desktop was still responsive :)
Caveats/Cons
Prior to kernel 3.15, each zram device contains it's own compression buffer, memory pools and other metadata as well as per-device locks. This can become a serious bottleneck for multi-core machines. To work around this problem, zram is capable of initializing multiple devices. For this reason, the recommended amount of devices for swap is 1 per cpu core for kernels prior to 3.15.
Another caveat for systems with limited memory, non swap use can reduce the amount of available memory to run applications.
When using this with a really fast SSD (e.g. Samsung 840 Pro), avoid setting rc_parallel=YES in /etc/rc.conf.
Depending on the size of the zram partitions and the speed of your RAM, some swap partitions and filesystems might not be ready when the swap and localmount services are started.
In such case, if you absolutely have to use parallel, consider removing these services from runlevel boot and adding them to default instead.
Enabling zram support in kernel
Enable the following options in your kernel config:
Memory Management options ---> <M> Memory allocator for compressed pages Device Drivers ---> [*] Block devices ---> <M> Compressed RAM block device support
It is recommended that zram be built as a loadable module. This allows you to change number of zram devices without reboot, by deactivating zram devices and re-loading module with new parameters. If you have zram built-in, then you can only change the number of devices at boot time by using the kernel boot parameter:
zram.num_devices=#
In order to use the LZ4 compression algorithm, you must also enable it in kernel config:
Cryptographic API ---> *** Compression *** <*> LZ4 compression algorithm
Initialization
Using zram-init service
By far the easiest method of utilizing zram disk(s) is by using Martin Väth's zram-init script. Note, that version 2.7 is fully compatible with kernels < 3.15. If version >= 3.0 is used, the maxs (maximum concurrent streams) and algo (compression algorithm selection) is only functional for kernels >= 3.15. Currently, both versions available in the main tree:
root #emerge --ask zram-initOpenRC
Edit the /etc/conf.d/zram-init file and create/configure your desired zram devices. There is lots of comments/instructions in the file. So, proceed with editing, save it when your done.
- For multicore systems, set maxs equal to the number of cores. If you're using old kernel (< 3.15), configure separate swap devices per core
- Set priority of hard drive swap to low, e.g. via fstab
An example:
- Specs: dual core cpu, 2G total ram
- Configure 1G of two-stream swap, 512Mb of /tmp
/etc/conf.d/zram-initload_on_start="yes" unload_on_stop="yes" num_devices="2" type0="swap" flag0= size0="512" maxs0=2 algo0=lz4 type1="/tmp" flag1="ext4" size1="512"
Then, add the init script to the desired runlevel, usually boot, and start the service:
root #rc-config add zram-init boot
root #/etc/init.d/zram-init start
In this case, boot is preferable to default because if your zram is providing a filesystem such as /tmp or /var/tmp, it would need to be mounted prior to any access to it during the default runtime.
systemd
sys-block/zram-init provides systemd units with self explaining names:
- zram_swap.service
- zram_tmp.service
- zram_var_tmp.service
Using OpenRC
For manual creation, you can use /etc/local.d and supply it with 2 files. A zram.start and a zram.stop. OpenRC will run these as appropriate as part of it's normal operation.
An example:
- Specs: 4 cpu cores, 4G ram total
- Configure 4 1.5G zram swap and activate.
- Estimated maximum ram used 2G @ 3:1 compression
/etc/local.d/zram.start#!/bin/bash modprobe zram num_devices=4 SIZE=1536 echo $(($SIZE*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram0/disksize echo $(($SIZE*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram1/disksize echo $(($SIZE*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram2/disksize echo $(($SIZE*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram3/disksize mkswap /dev/zram0 mkswap /dev/zram1 mkswap /dev/zram2 mkswap /dev/zram3 swapon /dev/zram0 -p 10 swapon /dev/zram1 -p 10 swapon /dev/zram2 -p 10 swapon /dev/zram3 -p 10
/etc/local.d/zram.stop#!/bin/bash swapoff /dev/zram0 swapoff /dev/zram1 swapoff /dev/zram2 swapoff /dev/zram3 echo 1 > /sys/block/zram0/reset echo 1 > /sys/block/zram1/reset echo 1 > /sys/block/zram2/reset echo 1 > /sys/block/zram3/reset modprobe -r zram
Disksize may also be specified using mem suffixes (K, M, G): echo 1536M > /sys/block/zram0/disksize
Using udev
Other possibility is to use existing configuration files - this option works on vanilla Gentoo without need to install additional software, also useful if you are using systemd instead of OpenRC. The first example can be implemented using:
/etc/udev/rules.d/10-zram.rulesKERNEL=="zram0", SUBSYSTEM=="block", DRIVER=="", ACTION=="add", ATTR{disksize}=="0", ATTR{disksize}="512M", RUN+="/sbin/mkswap $env{DEVNAME}" KERNEL=="zram1", SUBSYSTEM=="block", DRIVER=="", ACTION=="add", ATTR{disksize}=="0", ATTR{disksize}="512M", RUN+="/sbin/mkswap $env{DEVNAME}" KERNEL=="zram2", SUBSYSTEM=="block", DRIVER=="", ACTION=="add", ATTR{disksize}=="0", ATTR{disksize}="512M", RUN+="/sbin/mkfs.ext4 $env{DEVNAME}" # if you want lz4 support (since kernel 3.15) and without ext4 journaling # KERNEL=="zram2", SUBSYSTEM=="block", DRIVER=="", ACTION=="add", ATTR{initstate}=="0", ATTR{comp_algorithm}="lz4", ATTR{disksize}="512M", RUN+="/sbin/mkfs.ext4 -O ^has_journal -L $name $env{DEVNAME}"
/etc/fstab/dev/zram0 swap swap pri=16383 0 0 /dev/zram1 swap swap pri=16383 0 0 /dev/zram2 /tmp ext4 defaults 0 0
/etc/modprobe.d/zram.confoptions zram num_devices=3
Additionally, the zramctl utility is part of sys-apps/util-linux and can be used to configure zram devices. See man zramctl for examples of usage.
If using systemd with this method, you must ensure that the zram module is loaded correctly by systemd.
Checking that zram is used
Check if zram is mounted as swap:
user $grep zram /proc/swaps/dev/zram0 partition 2097148 2816 16383
Check if zram is mounted as directories:
user $grep zram /proc/mounts/dev/zram1 /var/tmp/portage ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,block_validity,discard,delalloc,barrier,user_xattr,acl 0 0
External resources
- zram in kernel documentation