diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5360d27..9ea57b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ Place the `rs-base::default` recipe in the runlist.
 
 # Attributes
 
-* `node['rs-base']['swap']['size']` - The swap file size in MB. This attribute must be a numeric value.
-  Default is `1024`.
+* `node['rs-base']['swap']['size']` - The swap file size in GB. This attribute must be an integer.
+  Default is `1`.
 * `node['rs-base']['swap']['file']` - The location of the swap file. This attribute must be a valid filename.
   Default is `'/mnt/ephemeral/swapfile'`.
 * `node['rs-base']['ntp']['servers']` - List of fully qualified domain names for the array of servers that are used for
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ All-in-one recipe to run all recipes in rs-base cookbook.
 
 ## rs-base::swap
 
-Creates a swapfile of the specified size `node['rs-base']['swap']['size']` in the
+Creates a swapfile of the specified size (in GB) `node['rs-base']['swap']['size']` in the
 specified location `node['rs-base']['swap']['file']` and enables it's usage.
 The swap file is added to `/etc/fstab` and will persist across reboots. If the size or the
 file location is invalid this recipe will fail with an error message indicating what the
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ used as the remote syslog server. Otherwise local machine is used.
 
 ## rs-base::collectd
 
-Installs the collectd client with some of the basic plugins, syslog, interface, df, disk, memory, load, 
-processes, users, and network. 
+Installs the collectd client with some of the basic plugins, syslog, interface, df, disk, memory, load,
+processes, users, and network.
 
 # Author
 
diff --git a/attributes/swap.rb b/attributes/swap.rb
index 42e8423..8a10387 100644
--- a/attributes/swap.rb
+++ b/attributes/swap.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #
 # Cookbook Name:: rs-base
-# Attributes:: swap 
+# Attributes:: swap
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2013 RightScale, Inc.
 #
@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 #
 
-default['rs-base']['swap']['size'] = 1024 # MB
+default['rs-base']['swap']['size'] = 1 # GB
 default['rs-base']['swap']['file'] = "/mnt/ephemeral/swapfile"
diff --git a/metadata.rb b/metadata.rb
index 2b456e0..5f7d434 100644
--- a/metadata.rb
+++ b/metadata.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@
     "ec2-us-west.time.rightscale.com"
   ]
 
+attribute "rs-base/swap/size",
+  :display_name => "Swap Size",
+  :description =>
+    "The size of the swap file (in Gigabytes). This value should be an integer." +
+    " Example: 1",
+  :recipes => ["rs-base::default", "rs-base::swap"],
+  :required => "optional",
+  :default => "1"
+
 attribute "rs-base/rsyslog_server",
   :display_name => "Remote rsyslog Server",
   :description =>
diff --git a/recipes/swap.rb b/recipes/swap.rb
index 221697f..965f584 100644
--- a/recipes/swap.rb
+++ b/recipes/swap.rb
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 # Recipe:: swap
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2013 RightScale, Inc.
-# 
+#
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 # You may obtain a copy of the License at
-# 
+#
 #    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-# 
+#
 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@
 end
 
 swap_file node['rs-base']['swap']['file'] do
-  size node['rs-base']['swap']['size'].to_i
+  # The swap cookbook expects the size to be in MB. So convert the size in GB to MB.
+  size node['rs-base']['swap']['size'].to_i * 1024
   persist true
   action :create
 end
 
-#TODO deal with collectd 
+#TODO deal with collectd
diff --git a/test/integration/swap/bats/swap.bats b/test/integration/swap/bats/swap.bats
index 7dca158..cebdc61 100644
--- a/test/integration/swap/bats/swap.bats
+++ b/test/integration/swap/bats/swap.bats
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ SWAPFILE="/mnt/ephemeral/swapfile"
 }
 
 @test "Has the correct swapfile size." {
-  ls -l --human-readable --block-size=M $SWAPFILE | grep "1024M"
+  ls -l --human-readable --block-size=G $SWAPFILE | grep "1G"
 }
 
 @test "Swapfile is enabled." {