When using a Linode VM, I needed to set up a custom swap configuration. A custom swap means utilizing a Volume Disk outside of the Virtual Machine’s primary storage.

The first step is to create the desired volume, for example, a 20 GB volume.

Second step, configure a newly attached 20 GB Linode volume as swap on Debian 12,

1. Identify the New Volume

First, identify the newly attached volume using the lsblk or fdisk command:

Look for the new volume, which should be something like /dev/sdX (replace X with the actual letter, such as sdb or sdc).

2. Create a Swap Partition

If the new volume is not already partitioned, create a swap partition:

Inside the fdisk interactive prompt:

• Press n to create a new partition.
• Press p to make it a primary partition.
• Press 1 to assign it the first partition number.
• Press Enter to accept the default first sector.
• Press Enter again to accept the default last sector (this will use the entire 20 GB).
• Press t to set the partition type.
• Enter 82 to set the partition type to Linux swap.
• Press w to write the changes and exit fdisk.

3. Format the Partition as Swap

Now, format the new partition as swap:

4. Enable the Swap

Enable the swap with the following command:

5. Make Swap Permanent

To ensure the swap is enabled on every boot, edit the /etc/fstab file:

Add the following line to the end of the file:

Replace /dev/sdX1 with the correct partition path for your volume.

6. Verify the Swap

You can verify the swap is working with the swapon or free command:

This should show the newly created swap partition.

Your 20 GB Linode volume is now set up and being used as swap on your Debian 12 server!