🌀 ZRAM Setup for Linux

Configure ZRAM swap on multiple Linux distributions. Boosts performance, reduces SSD wear, and optimizes memory using compressed RAM swap.

Features

• Multi-distro support: Debian/Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Fedora/RHEL, openSUSE
• Interactive configuration with sensible defaults
• Automatic detection and disabling of existing swap
• Multiple swap size options (25%, 50%, 100%, or custom)
• Multiple compression algorithms (zstd, lz4, lz0)
• Multi-device support for better multi-core performance
• Dry-run mode to preview changes
• Uninstall script to cleanly remove configuration
• Logging to /var/log/zram-setup.log

📦 Installation

git clone https://github.com/ritchegerona/zram-setup.git
cd zram-setup
chmod +x setup-zram.sh uninstall-zram.sh

▶️ Usage

Interactive Mode (recommended)

sudo ./setup-zram.sh

Non-interactive Mode

sudo ./setup-zram.sh -y

Custom Configuration

# Set swap size to 50% with lz4 compression
sudo ./setup-zram.sh -s 50 -c lz4

# Dry-run to preview changes
./setup-zram.sh -n

Command-line Options

Option	Description
-s, --size SIZE	Swap size as percentage of RAM (25, 50, 100, or custom)
-c, --compression ALGO	Compression algorithm: zstd, lz4, lz0
-d, --devices NUM	Number of zram devices (1-4)
-y, --yes	Non-interactive mode, accept defaults
-n, --dry-run	Preview changes without applying
-h, --help	Show help message
-v, --version	Show version

✅ Verification

After running the setup, verify ZRAM is working:

# Check swap devices
cat /proc/swaps

# Check memory usage
free -h

# Check ZRAM devices specifically
zramctl

🧹 Uninstall/Rollback

To remove ZRAM configuration and optionally restore disk swap:

sudo ./uninstall-zram.sh

The uninstall script will:

• Stop and disable ZRAM services
• Remove configuration files
• Restore original swap from backup (if available)
• Optionally remove installed packages

🔧 Troubleshooting

Swap not enabled after reboot

# Check service status
systemctl status zramswap.service    # Debian/Ubuntu
systemctl status systemd-zram-setup@zram0.service  # Arch/Fedora/openSUSE

# Reload systemd daemon
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Check compression algorithm available

# List available algorithms
zcat -h 2>&1 | grep -o -E '^[a-z0-9]+'

# Or check kernel config
grep CONFIG_ZRAM_DEF_COMP /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Performance tuning

Add to /etc/sysctl.d/99-zram.conf:

vm.swappiness=100        # Aggressive swapping to ZRAM
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50   # Balance file cache vs app memory

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE.md for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by zram-generator documentation
• Tested on Debian 12, Ubuntu 24.04, Arch Linux, Fedora 40