diff --git a/faafo/contrib/install-aws.sh b/faafo/contrib/install-aws.sh
index b378c6ca36d890e8c0f1700b5177f9cf3066bb93..d285fba41f44adb9e8387d7d8f9ecfba949aff08 100644
--- a/faafo/contrib/install-aws.sh
+++ b/faafo/contrib/install-aws.sh
@@ -146,8 +146,12 @@ if [[ -e /etc/os-release ]]; then
         cd cloud-computing-msc-ai-examples/faafo
         # following line required by bug 1636150
         sudo pip install --upgrade pbr
-        sudo pip install -r requirements.txt
-        # rerun install of reqs in AWS, as first run seams to be killed?
+        # in m1.tiny instance during cloud-init the following pip install can experience OOM kill
+        # setup swap to prevent that
+        sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swap bs=1M count=512
+        sudo chmod 600 /swap
+        sudo mkswap /swap
+        sudo swapon /swap
         sudo pip install -r requirements.txt
         sudo python setup.py install