Recomended Partitioning for a server 2

[iSeriesCodePoet]

What partitioning scheme is recommended for a linux based server. I have 10 GB to work with. I will be using mostly as Firewall and File server, but I will also be using it for my program development.

I will be dual booting for a windows install for the (occasional) use of Windows (DVDs and games). This is a 40 GB drive. 20 GB will be formated as FAT32 so both Windows and Linux can use it for file storage.

Config:
P2 350
576 MB RAM
1 - 40GB, 1 - 8GB, 1 - 300MB Hard drives
1 CD-RW
1 DVD
Caldera OpenServer
Windows 2000/XP (one or the other) Mike Wills
AS400 Programmer

 

[RhythmAce]

There are a lot of ways that you can set up your partitions, but if you want to keep things simple you just need 2, "/" and "/swap". With the newer kernal, you should set /swap to about twice the size of ram and would be set as a linux swap partition. You will also need a root partition "/". I have mine set to a minimum of 1MB and to "grow" to a maximum of the available disk space and would be set to linux native. I also have a "/boot" partition to store my boot files and have it set to 40MB but it seems to be a waste of space since it only uses 14% of that. Some people like to create different partitions for /home, /dev and so on but unless you have a reason to keep them on different partitions I would keep them all on "/". Another note, some installations, Red Hat for example, come with an installer that will automatically setup your partitions for you.

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

So it really doesn't matter then? What if I want to seperate out home? How much space should I allow for everything else? 2 GB? More? Less? This is just for my learning and home server mostly. Mike Wills
AS400 Programmer

 

[stanhubble]

Mike,

No it doesn't matter. The reason for separating some directories on different filesystems (aside from putting them on different disks) is so that you don't inadvertantly fill up your root filesystem. This is mostly a problem when you have multiple users on the same system, if the / filesytem is full then most telnet sessions will lock up and you can't log in a new session to clean out the files.

This sounds like a single user machine so having 2-3 gb for apps and logs should be ok.

stan

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

I'd mostly agree with the above comments. There are plusses and minuses to having multiple partitions and much debate goes on. On the plus side, if you are using partitions on physically different disks there is a benefit in i/o terms. Also, there is less risk of a corruption in one area (e.g. /home) affecting your critical system directories. Also, the backups are somewhat easier.

The main drawback of multiple partitions is simply getting the sizing right. Say you have created separate /home and /usr partitions but underestimate /home and are over generous with /usr then there would be space wasted which would not be the case using 'simple' partitioning. Redhat's current recommendation for general use is to use three partitions :

swap double physical ram to max 2GB
/boot 50MB
/ remainder of space

However, for a standard 'server' class install they do the following:

swap - The size of the swap partition is determined by the amount of RAM in your system and the amount of space available on your hard drive. For example, if you have 128 MB of RAM then the swap partition created can be 128 MB to 256 MB (twice your RAM), depending on how much disk space is available.

A 384 MB partition (mounted as /).

A partition of at least 1400 MB (mounted as /usr).

A partition of at least 512 MB (mounted as /home).

A 256 MB partition (mounted as /var).

A 50 MB partition (mounted as /boot) in
which the Linux kernel and related files are kept.

Subject to the 1400mb / 512mb minumums, the rest of the space would be shared between the /home and /usr partitions.

So, its really up to you but I'd say that unless you have a good reason to use multiple partitions then keep it simple.

Hope this helps

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the input. Mike Wills
AS400 Programmer