How can I find out how big the swap szie for the existing server??? I am in the process of configuring the new test server, by all mean, I am not Linux expert, what is the recommended SWAP size should I use???

thanks,

free -m will show you the size of the current swap partition in MB.

The old rule of thumb for swap size was System Memory X 2. I don't typically use this rule of thumb anymore on systems with more then 512MB of RAM. These days I usually always use a 2GB swap. You'd probably be fine with a lot less, but storage space is cheap.

I have to admit, the server I'm logged into right now has 2GB of RAM, has been running for over two months without reboot, and isn't using any swap at all... If it hasn't used it by now it probably never will

thanks so much for your prompt reply. Ok, it's coming back now, twice as much as the physical RAM on the box. I am Oracle DBA , I did configure Linux before (may be 2 years ago). Anohter questions for you:

1. Which boot loader should we use??? GRUB or LILO ??? tha advantage and disadvantage????
2. Which Packages shoudl we use??? GNOME or KDE and again the advantage and disadvantage???


thanks Million

Grub is more robust then LILO which is why I use it. It actually can read/understand the drive partitions so if you mess up the configuration file you can still boot your system using the grub command line. That is why I use it.

As for KDE vs. Gnome, I don't use either but as far as I'm concerned it is just a personal preference.