[Updated July 26, 2020]: Change swapfile permission; Set swapfile in /etc/fstab.

Swap is a special area on your computer, which the operating system can use as additional RAM.
Starting with Ubuntu 17.04, the swap partition was replaced by a swap file. The main advantage of the swap file is easy resizing.

Note: before running the following commands, please make sure you have a backup of your data!

In the following example, we’ll extend the swap space available in the /swapfile from 4 GB to 8 GB.

1. Turn off all swap processes

sudo swapoff -a

2. Resize the swap

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=8

if = input file of = output file bs = block size
count = multiplier of blocks

3. Change permission

sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

4. Make the file usable as swap

sudo mkswap /swapfile

5. Activate the swap file

sudo swapon /swapfile

6. Edit /etc/fstab and add the new swapfile if it isn’t already there

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

7. Check the amount of swap available

grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo

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