>What, why, and how used are pagefiles, for VMS v5.5-2.
I'd rather not try to explain this in detail, except to say that the
pagefiles can be considered to be an extension of main memory. They allow
you to run a program which apparently requires more memory than you have
on your system. They are used automatically by OpenVMS when required. For
more details, please see the subject of "Virtual Memory" in any textbook
on Computer Science or Operating System Design.
>What do I do with them once they are there. Thanks.
Not a lot. They generally look after themselves. Take a look every so
often and check the free space. Use the SHOW MEMORY/FILES command.
$ show mem/file
System Memory Resources on 5-FEB-1996 13:23:15.52
Paging File Usage (blocks): Free Reservable Total
DISK$AXPVMSSYS:[SYS0.SYSEXE]SWAPFILE.SYS 19968 19968 19968
DISK$AXPVMSSYS:[SYS0.SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS 318304 -71824 499968
Make sure the free space is always greater than 50% of the total size, or
greater than 100,000 blocks (whichever is smaller). If you see the free
space drop below this for an extended time, consider increasing the size
of your pagefile.
