[lug] Max ramdisk size?

[Rob Riggs]

Thanks Jonathan, but all I really want to know is what the limit on 
ramdisk size is. I do know how to configure large ramdisks. I just don't 
have a box with 16GB of memory right now to determine whether I can make 
a single 15GB ramdisk.

The default ramdisk size can be configured during kernel config time, 
but I prefer to use the "ramdisk_size" boot option. If I have to resort 
to building my own kernel (shudder), I'll make the ramdisk a module and 
use the "rd" module options to set the ramdisk size.

tmpfs is an option, but since I want all of the data pinned in memory 
and *never* want it swapped, ramdisk is the preferred option. (In fact, 
I'd rather crash the box due to OOM condition than swap the data.)

Thanks again.

-Rob

Jonathan Briggs wrote:

>The ramdisks are fixed in size.  That size can be configured when you
>build the kernel.  It defaults to 4 MB.
>
>I would recommend using the tmpfs filesystem.  It stores files in memory
>and they can be swapped to disk if needed.  The size can be configured
>with a mount parameter.  It defaults to half your memory.  tmpfs doesn't
>immediately use all the memory allocated to it, that's just its maximum
>size.
>
>On Mon, 2002-08-05 at 17:01, Rob Riggs wrote:
>  
>
>>Anyone know what the limit on ramdisk size is? If I have a 16GB (ia32) 
>>box, can I make a single 15GB ramdisk, or will I need to make a number 
>>of smaller ones?
>>    
>>
>
>  
>