# Disable swap

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [April 21, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213 "2017-04-21T13:28:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/1 "2017-04-21T13:28:52Z")

</div>

```
ERROR: bootstrap checks failed
memory locking requested for elasticsearch process but memory is not locked

```

I am getting this error while bringing up ES. I am running my ES as user. How to lock the memory while running it as a user???

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![A\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/a_b/32/17104_2.png) [@A\_B](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/A_B)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/2 "2017-04-21T14:36:03Z")

</div>

What I did to get rid of that same error was to add one line to /etc/default/elasticsearch

```
cat /etc/default/elasticsearch
MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY=unlimited

```

From the config file

```
# The maximum number of bytes of memory that may be locked into RAM
# Set to "unlimited" if you use the 'bootstrap.memory_lock: true' option
# in elasticsearch.yml.
# When using Systemd, the LimitMEMLOCK property must be set
# in /usr/lib/systemd/system/elasticsearch.service
#MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY=unlimited

```

Hope that helps.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/3 "2017-04-24T04:20:17Z")

</div>

> [@A\_B](#):
>
> cat /etc/default/elasticsearch

```
[root@gems14 ~]# cat /etc/default/elasticsearch
cat: /etc/default/elasticsearch: No such file or directory

```

I installed elasticsearch as a service using rpm (v5.2)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/4 "2017-04-24T04:23:29Z")

</div>

Have a look at [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.3/bootstrap-checks.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.3/bootstrap-checks.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/5 "2017-04-24T06:11:10Z")

</div>

Here Its showing that mlockall is thre

```
  {
      "nodes": {
        "VjsbRxcvTW2zNrDIoGob3Q": {
          "process": {
            "mlockall": true
          }
        }
      }
    }

```

But in the node stats I am getting 45 MB swap memory.

```
"swap": {
              "total_in_bytes": 33554423808,
              "free_in_bytes": 33506545664,
              "used_in_bytes": 47878144
            }

```

Is my ES swap is really disabled???

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/6 "2017-04-25T10:53:57Z")

</div>

Can anyone help on this???

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rcowart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rcowart/32/88091_2.png) [@rcowart](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rcowart)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/7 "2017-04-25T13:05:46Z")

</div>

Swap is in the Operating System section of Node Stats. OS values are for the whole node, not just the Elasticsearch process. The swap usage is likely due to a different process.

Rob

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/disable-swap/83213/8 "2017-05-23T13:15:12Z")

</div>

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