[ale] Swap Memory usage

[Dow Hurst]

So, following this discussion reminds me of a comment by Bob in voice 
and maybe text:

That swapped out login and passwords could stay around for quite awhile 
if the login program uses swap.

This could happen, so should a firewall hardened machine not be allowed 
to swap?  Or should the code of the login program be written so that 
those spots in Virtual Memory be overwritten immediately after use?  
Does anyone know how Openssh handles this or ssh.com?  Thanks,
Dow


synco gibraldter wrote:

>  On 19 Sep 2003 at 13:06, Greg Freemyer wrote:
>
> > Are you sure it does?
>
>
> > On Fri, 2003-09-19 at 12:32, David Corbin wrote:
> >
> >> Why does Linux use swap memory when there is RAM available?
>
>
>
>  greg is right -- it's designed to AVOID doing that... the only
>  circumstance i can conceive that swap would be used over ram is this:
>  if you have 3MB of ram left and your program malloc's 5MB, the kernel
>  may decide to put all 5MB is swap to keep it contiguous rather than
>  putting 3MB in ram and then 2MB on the swap partition. i could be
>  completely wrong about that, but i could see that happening. besides
>  that, there is no reason that swap would take priority over ram
>  except, as greg mentioned, once the "safe" threshold is surpassed.
>
>  -- synco gibraldter -- atlanta, ga -- synco at xodarap.net --
>  key id: 0xC5117E0A
>
>  _______________________________________________ Ale mailing list
>  Ale at ale.org http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>

-- 
__________________________________________________________
Dow Hurst                  Office: 770-499-3428            *
Systems Support Specialist    Fax: 770-423-6744            *
1000 Chastain Rd. Bldg. 12                                 *
Chemistry Department SC428  Email:   dhurst at kennesaw.edu   *
Kennesaw State University         Dow.Hurst at mindspring.com *
Kennesaw, GA 30144                                         *
*****************************************************************
This message (including any attachments) contains confidential  *
information intended for a specific individual and purpose,     *
and is protected by law.  If you are not the intended recipient,*
you should delete this message and are hereby notified that     *
any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or    *
the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited.   *
*****************************************************************