diff --git a/ansible/playbook.yml b/ansible/playbook.yml
index 613c4a99d..5202fe987 100644
--- a/ansible/playbook.yml
+++ b/ansible/playbook.yml
@@ -212,3 +212,8 @@
       become: yes
       shell: |
         sudo -u ubuntu bash -c ". /nix/var/nix/profiles/default/etc/profile.d/nix-daemon.sh && nix-collect-garbage -d"
+
+    - name: Setup Swap
+      when: stage2 and not qemu
+      become: yes
+      import_tasks: tasks/stage2/setup-swap.yml
diff --git a/ansible/tasks/setup-tuned.yml b/ansible/tasks/setup-tuned.yml
index 30f2f611d..1a02becc9 100644
--- a/ansible/tasks/setup-tuned.yml
+++ b/ansible/tasks/setup-tuned.yml
@@ -185,43 +185,6 @@
         value: '10'
       become: true
 
-    - name: 'tuned - Enable zswap if swap is present'  # noqa: name[casing]
-      when: ansible_facts['swaptotal_mb'] > 0
-      block:
-        - name: 'tuned - Decrease the kernel swappiness'  # noqa: name[casing]
-          community.general.ini_file:
-            create: true
-            group: 'root'
-            mode: '0644'
-            no_extra_spaces: true
-            option: 'vm.swappiness'
-            path: '/etc/tuned/profiles/postgresql/tuned.conf'
-            section: 'sysctl'
-            state: 'present'
-            value: '10'
-          become: true
-
-        - name: 'tuned - Load zstd compressor module'  # noqa: name[casing]
-          community.general.modprobe:
-            name: 'zstd'
-            persistent: 'present'
-            state: 'present'
-          become: true
-
-        - name: 'tuned - Configure and enable zswap'  # noqa: name[casing]
-          ansible.builtin.shell:
-            cmd: "echo {{ zswap_item['value'] }}  > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/{{ zswap_item['param'] }}"
-          changed_when: true
-          loop:
-            - param: 'compressor'
-              value: 'zstd'
-            - param: 'max_pool_percent'
-              value: '10'
-            - param: 'enabled'
-              value: 'Y'
-          loop_control:
-            loop_var: 'zswap_item'
-
     - name: 'tuned - Activate the tuned service'  # noqa: name[casing]
       ansible.builtin.systemd_service:
         daemon_reload: true
diff --git a/ansible/tasks/stage2/setup-swap.yml b/ansible/tasks/stage2/setup-swap.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1823e058
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/tasks/stage2/setup-swap.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+- name: Allocate and format swapfile
+  ansible.builtin.shell: |
+    fallocate -l 1G /swapfile
+    chmod 600 /swapfile
+    mkswap /swapfile
+  args:
+    creates: /swapfile
+
+- name: Add swapfile to fstab
+  ansible.posix.mount:
+    src: /swapfile
+    path: none
+    fstype: swap
+    opts: sw
+    dump: "0"
+    passno: "0"
+    state: present
+
+- name: 'tuned - Decrease the kernel swappiness'  # noqa: name[casing]
+  community.general.ini_file:
+    create: true
+    group: 'root'
+    mode: '0644'
+    no_extra_spaces: true
+    option: 'vm.swappiness'
+    path: '/etc/tuned/profiles/postgresql/tuned.conf'
+    section: 'sysctl'
+    state: 'present'
+    value: '10'
+
+- name: 'tuned - Load zstd compressor module'  # noqa: name[casing]
+  community.general.modprobe:
+    name: 'zstd'
+    persistent: 'present'
+    state: 'present'
+
+- name: 'tuned - Configure and enable zswap'  # noqa: name[casing]
+  ansible.builtin.shell:
+    cmd: "echo {{ zswap_item['value'] }}  > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/{{ zswap_item['param'] }}"
+  changed_when: true
+  loop:
+    - param: 'compressor'
+      value: 'zstd'
+    - param: 'max_pool_percent'
+      value: '10'
+    - param: 'enabled'
+      value: 'Y'
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: 'zswap_item'
diff --git a/ebssurrogate/scripts/surrogate-bootstrap-nix.sh b/ebssurrogate/scripts/surrogate-bootstrap-nix.sh
index de44160b0..a24072b35 100755
--- a/ebssurrogate/scripts/surrogate-bootstrap-nix.sh
+++ b/ebssurrogate/scripts/surrogate-bootstrap-nix.sh
@@ -202,24 +202,15 @@ function format_and_mount_rootfs {
 	mount -o defaults,discard /dev/xvdh /mnt/data
 }
 
-function create_swapfile {
-	fallocate -l 1G /mnt/swapfile
-	chmod 600 /mnt/swapfile
-	mkswap /mnt/swapfile
-}
-
 function format_build_partition {
 	mkfs.ext4 -O ^has_journal /dev/xvdc
 }
 # Create fstab
 function create_fstab {
-	local FMT="%-42s %-11s %-5s %-17s %-5s %s" ROOT_LINE DATA_LINE SWAP_LINE
+	local FMT="%-42s %-11s %-5s %-17s %-5s %s" ROOT_LINE DATA_LINE
 	ROOT_LINE=$(findmnt -no SOURCE /mnt | xargs blkid -o export | awk -v FMT="$FMT" '/^UUID=/ { printf(FMT, $0, "/", "ext4", "defaults,discard", "0", "1" ) }')
 	DATA_LINE=$(findmnt -no SOURCE /mnt/data | xargs blkid -o export | awk -v FMT="$FMT" '/^UUID=/ { printf(FMT, $0, "/data", "ext4", "defaults,discard", "0", "2" ) }')
 
-	# shellcheck disable=SC2059
-	SWAP_LINE=$(printf "$FMT" "/swapfile" "none" "swap" "sw" "0" "0")
-
 	local EFI_LINE=""
 	if [[ $ARCH == arm64 ]]; then
 		EFI_LINE=$(findmnt -no SOURCE /mnt/boot/efi | xargs blkid -o export | awk -v FMT="$FMT" '/^UUID=/ { printf(FMT, $0, "/boot/efi", "vfat", "umask=0077", "0", "1" ) }')
@@ -231,7 +222,6 @@ function create_fstab {
 		echo "$ROOT_LINE"
 		[ -n "$EFI_LINE" ] && echo "$EFI_LINE"
 		echo "$DATA_LINE"
-		echo "$SWAP_LINE"
 	} >/mnt/etc/fstab
 }
 
@@ -387,7 +377,6 @@ function clean_system {
 	rm -rf /mnt/root/.vpython*
 	rm -rf /mnt/root/go
 	rm -rf /mnt/usr/share/doc
-
 }
 
 # Unmount bind mounts
@@ -419,7 +408,6 @@ waitfor_boot_finished
 install_packages
 device_partition_mappings
 format_and_mount_rootfs
-create_swapfile
 format_build_partition
 setup_chroot_environment
 execute_playbook