In Linux, how can I find out which programs are using swap space?

Problem

How can I figure out which process is utilizing the most swap space in Linux?

Asked by Shameem

Solution #1

This article has the greatest script I’ve found: http://northernmost.org/blog/find-out-what-is-using-your-swap/

Here’s one version of the script that doesn’t require root:

#!/bin/bash 
# Get current swap usage for all running processes
# Erik Ljungstrom 27/05/2011
# Modified by Mikko Rantalainen 2012-08-09
# Pipe the output to "sort -nk3" to get sorted output
# Modified by Marc Methot 2014-09-18
# removed the need for sudo

SUM=0
OVERALL=0
for DIR in `find /proc/ -maxdepth 1 -type d -regex "^/proc/[0-9]+"`
do
    PID=`echo $DIR | cut -d / -f 3`
    PROGNAME=`ps -p $PID -o comm --no-headers`
    for SWAP in `grep VmSwap $DIR/status 2>/dev/null | awk '{ print $2 }'`
    do
        let SUM=$SUM+$SWAP
    done
    if (( $SUM > 0 )); then
        echo "PID=$PID swapped $SUM KB ($PROGNAME)"
    fi
    let OVERALL=$OVERALL+$SUM
    SUM=0
done
echo "Overall swap used: $OVERALL KB"

Answered by lolotux

Solution #2

Press OpEnter after running top. Processes should now be classified according to how much swap they need.

As pointed out in the comments, my previous response does not provide an exact solution to the problem. According to the htop FAQ:

Answered by David Holm

Solution #3

Here’s a different version of the script that should produce better legible results (you’ll need to run it as root to get accurate results):

#!/bin/bash

    # find-out-what-is-using-your-swap.sh
    # -- Get current swap usage for all running processes
    # --
    # -- rev.0.3, 2012-09-03, Jan Smid          - alignment and intendation, sorting
    # -- rev.0.2, 2012-08-09, Mikko Rantalainen - pipe the output to "sort -nk3" to get sorted output
    # -- rev.0.1, 2011-05-27, Erik Ljungstrom   - initial version


SCRIPT_NAME=`basename $0`;
SORT="kb";                 # {pid|kB|name} as first parameter, [default: kb]
[ "$1" != "" ] && { SORT="$1"; }

[ ! -x `which mktemp` ] && { echo "ERROR: mktemp is not available!"; exit; }
MKTEMP=`which mktemp`;
TMP=`${MKTEMP} -d`;
[ ! -d "${TMP}" ] && { echo "ERROR: unable to create temp dir!"; exit; }

>${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.pid;
>${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.kb;
>${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.name;

SUM=0;
OVERALL=0;
    echo "${OVERALL}" > ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.overal;

for DIR in `find /proc/ -maxdepth 1 -type d -regex "^/proc/[0-9]+"`;
do
    PID=`echo $DIR | cut -d / -f 3`
    PROGNAME=`ps -p $PID -o comm --no-headers`

    for SWAP in `grep Swap $DIR/smaps 2>/dev/null| awk '{ print $2 }'`
    do
        let SUM=$SUM+$SWAP
    done

    if (( $SUM > 0 ));
    then
        echo -n ".";
        echo -e "${PID}\t${SUM}\t${PROGNAME}" >> ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.pid;
        echo -e "${SUM}\t${PID}\t${PROGNAME}" >> ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.kb;
        echo -e "${PROGNAME}\t${SUM}\t${PID}" >> ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.name;
    fi
    let OVERALL=$OVERALL+$SUM
    SUM=0
done
echo "${OVERALL}" > ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.overal;
echo;
echo "Overall swap used: ${OVERALL} kB";
echo "========================================";
case "${SORT}" in
    name )
        echo -e "name\tkB\tpid";
        echo "========================================";
        cat ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.name|sort -r;
        ;;

    kb )
        echo -e "kB\tpid\tname";
        echo "========================================";
        cat ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.kb|sort -rh;
        ;;

    pid | * )
        echo -e "pid\tkB\tname";
        echo "========================================";
        cat ${TMP}/${SCRIPT_NAME}.pid|sort -rh;
        ;;
esac
rm -fR "${TMP}/";

Answered by j3nda

Solution #4

Use smem

smem -s swap -r

Here’s a link that explains how to install it as well as how to utilize it: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-which-process-is-using-swap/

Answered by Tom

Solution #5

It’s unclear whether you’re looking for the process that has the most pages swapped out or the process that caused the most pages to be changed out.

You can run top and order by swap (hit ‘Op’) for the first, and vmstat and look for non-zero entries for’so’ for the second.

Answered by Ronny Vindenes

Post is based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/479953/how-to-find-out-which-processes-are-using-swap-space-in-linux