Server Partitioning

[MattWray]

I am attempting to set up my first Linux Server and currently when I boot it hangs at the checking partitions. I was going to reinstall and set the partitions myself instead of using the autopartition. My question is, what kind of partitions should I set? I plan on using the Disk Druid, and I am a Newbie to Linux so be gentle... Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP

 

[jaymzter]

First question is what are you planning to do? Is this for a home lan w/ no internet connection? If so, keep it simple since you're a newbie and just make a / and a /home partition. YMMV

Otherwise, I would suggest a /boot partition ~40-50Mb, /var partition ~100Mb, more if storing mail for multiple users, /home partition so you can reformat/re-install without losing your stuff, usually I make this as big as possible on the server, then export it using NFS and samba to any clients, a /usr/local partition for stuff you compile yourself ~500+ Mb, and the rest on /.

Everyone has their own philosophy for partitioning, so you'll get different answers. Back in the day, I just learned through trial and error on partition sizes, and just found what I was comfortable with. You'll do the same.

 

[MattWray]

Thanks Jaymzter, I just took a shot and this is what I set up:
/dev/hda
/dev/hda1 23M ext3 /boot
/dev/hda2 10000M ext3 /var
/dev/hda3 509M swap
/dev/hda4 8558M extended
/dev/hda5 8558M ext3 /
I am planning on making this into a Web Server when I am a little more salty with Linux, as for now it is my new toy. Any comments or concerns with the way I partitioned, I haven't done anything other than install so it would be easy to redo...
Thanks! Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP

 

[MrTom]

i just go for 1 big / partition and swap. some special circumstances may warrant extra care for partitioning, eg. a high stress environment. most of the time it doesn't provide any benefits, especially since journaling filesystems take seconds to revalidate even a large partition.