Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 02:56:56 +0530 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: Peter McGarvey <Peter.McGarvey@telinco.net> Cc: FREEBSD-Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: BSD Theology: swap, /var, /tmp and /usr/tmp Message-ID: <20000503025656.G6717@physics.iisc.ernet.in> In-Reply-To: <390F41FD.5880279E@telinco.net>; from Peter.McGarvey@telinco.net on Tue, May 02, 2000 at 10:00:45PM %2B0100 References: <390F41FD.5880279E@telinco.net>
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I don't think this is a BSD v/s linux thing. The default partitioning scheme will work a lot of the time but not all the time. What your friend wants doesn't seem very conventional from a linux point of view either, but could be necessary for him. For instance if you're running a very busy mailserver, you'll want a large /var partition. If your users are running code which generate large datafiles and want some scratch space, you'll want a large /tmp partition. If the above are true, and you don't want problems caused by filling up / or /usr, you'll put /var and /tmp on separate partitions. Rahul. Peter McGarvey said on May 2, 2000 at 22:00:45: > Theological problem this. Facts and Opinions welcome... > > Okay, I /think/ I know what I'm doing when I slice-up a disk for a > FreeBSD system... > > / -> 64MB > swap -> 2 * memory (rounded-up to the nearest MB) > /usr -> the remaining disk > > Once setup I link /var and /tmp to /usr/var and /usr/temp > > This is the way I've always done it, I'm quite happy doing it this way, > it works for me and I've never had any problems. > > Fine, but now some upstart has asked me to set up a FreeBSD system with > the following.... > > / -> 5MB > swap 1 -> 512MB (equal to memory) > swap 2 -> 512MB > /var -> 2GB > /tmp -> 2GB > /usr -> remaining disk > > My first instinct is that the guy is barking mad (he is a Linux groupie > so... (and Linux does have a nasty habit of apropriating every entry in > the partition table)) > > However I've hit a snag - when it comes to FreeBSD partitions and slices > I know the HOW (and there is lot's of help on that), but I'm not too > sure of the WHY (and help here is lacking). > > 1. What I need is some rational reasoning why the way I do > things is right/wrong. > > 2. Why the way Linux man wants it is right/wrong. > > 3. Some info on the optimal size of swap > > 4. Where's the best place to put /var and /tmp > > Here is what I was told... > > On the issue of the 2 swap I was told two swap partitions were needed as > "we may need to turn one off as too much swap will slow the machine > down". > > Furthermore, I was told the 2*memory rule is no longer valid "once the > physical memory has exceeded 64MB" Can this true? Have I needlessly > been waisting mt HDD space by making swap too big? > > My thoughts were that swap was used as needed, when needed, and that > pages are not swapped to disk on a whim just because the swap space > existed (or perhaps this is how linux works so he's assuming FreeBSD > does it this way too). > > As for /var and /tmp why not link them to /usr/var and /usr/tmp. I can > understand putting them on physically seperate devices. But is it > strictly necissary to put them in their own slice? Is there a > performance benefit? or a is there some extra resiliency? > > Whilst I'm at it what is the difference between /tmp and /usr/tmp. I've > always treated them a seperate entities - assuming linking /tmp to > /usr/tmp was a bad thing. Linux man maligned FreeBSD big time when he > found there were two temporary directories. I couldn't respond as I > didn't know - and I refused to descent to his level by insulting his > prefered OS. > > Like I said this is mainly a theological problem. so all Facts and > Opinions welcome... > > > -- > TTFN, FNORD > > Peter McGarvey, Unix Administrator > Network Operations Center, Telinco Limited > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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