Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2019 19:32:44 -0800 From: Frank Fenderbender <frankfenderbender@council124.org> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: MJ <mafsys1234@gmail.com>, =?iso-8859-1?Q?Trond_Endrest=F8l?= <trond.endrestol@ximalas.info>, Polytropon Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> Subject: Re: doc listing of a full install's structure? Message-ID: <1DDBDC78-CFC3-4BF6-97A4-C4D808268D1F@council124.org> In-Reply-To: <7138d654-93b3-42fc-93b7-e96e2613945e@gmail.com> References: <20191101024817.GA60134@admin.sibptus.ru> <558fd145-ad3e-90dc-5930-c01ca0c27d3c@panix.com> <alpine.BSF.2.21.9999.1911010912090.73442@mail2.nber.org> <5A739711-3758-4FAB-BEA7-D37A06AB92B9@council124.org> <7138d654-93b3-42fc-93b7-e96e2613945e@gmail.com>
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Thanks for your astute comments, questions, and requests for better =
clarification (which was definitely lacking in my query).
Sorry for that.
Hopefully I can distill down my goals as well as let be known my sense =
of what I am doing, which.. heh, heh... will also=20
expose what I do NOT know, but that's what this is all about: learning =
from the robust thinkers and experienced experimenters out there in the =
list.
For that (and all of you) I am grateful. So, thanks to anyone reviewing =
or commenting.
I'm trying to research before accepting any installation or =
documentation "defaults" which may or may not be mins, maxs, optimum, =
cast-in-stone, etc..
I know enough not to base the FreeBSD system needs/performance upon any =
other OS's, however, Ubuntu is all I have to go on thus far, so=20
I'll use it as an example.
I can base this on a combination of different sources: guess, gut =
feeling, qualified-and-similar "solutions" from web posts from which I =
have to
interpolate, extrapolate, combine, and filter. The latter is always a =
lot of work sauced with chance and luck.
My gut says to go with the listees' experiences, as you are current and =
still full of imaginative zest and fire.
Okay, maybe it's best to show what I've got so far (and it's =
less-than-"perfect", esp. since what the FreeBSD documentation wisely=20
suggests [listed below]).
On Ubuntu, one can let the install all the OS's folders into 3 =
partitions, however, performance and backups are=20
easier when the pre-install space is modularized so that the install =
finds a mounted partition=20
for its larger and more-used folders.
It's even recommended that certain partitions be located in certain =
drive regions for "first" and "fast" access (e.g., EFI, MBR,=20
/boot, etc.).
=20
Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 LTS installations will default to just three =
partitions:
label=3DESP (type=3Dfat32; flags=3Dboot,esp)
label=3DOS; type=3Dfat32; flag=3Dmsftdata)
label=3DUBUNTU (type=3Dext4; no flags).
You add your swap from the "free space" left over....
My two systems have their Ubuntu 18.04 (1T) drives set up as:
what type mount-pt input-size actual-size
------- ------- ------------ --------------- =
---------------
free space =
1M
/dev/sda1 fat32 /boot/efi 1,001M 1,000M (1G) =
<=3D=3D input-size covers the 'free space' preceding it
/dev/sda2 fat32 /biosgrub 10M 10M =
(0.01G)
/dev/sda3 ext4 /boot 4,000M 4,000M =
(4G)
/dev/sda4 ext4 / 300,000M 300,000M =
(300G) <=3D=3D the "root partition" is used for the OS
/dev/sda5 ext4 swap 12,000M 12,000M (12G)
/dev/sda6 ext4 /usr 20,000M 20,000M =
(20G)
/dev/sda7 ext4 /tmp 12,000M 12,000M (12G)
/dev/sda8 ext4 /usr/local 50,000M 50,000M (50G)
/dev/sda9 ext4 /home 600,000M 600,000M (600G)
Additional installs of Ubuntu would leave off the /boot/efi partition.
UEFI will map GRUB boot list choices to their respective bootloaders on =
their respective HDs.
So, I seek to do the same (or similar) for FreeBSD on one of the =
additional internal HDs by partitioning it before=20
the installation defaults the drive into a series/set of default usage =
issues.
The amount of swap is based on a multiplier of how much RAM you have. =
Each system has 32G.
The parttion-size numbers are different depending upon whether you're =
using ZFS -- which I will not -- and the size of the HD itself.
You don't just double what a 500G HD uses to get your partition-sizes =
for a 1T HD, etc.
At a certain point the numbers do not need to get larger, and certain =
ones have a minimum.
I seek that information.
--------------------
W/rt/ FreeBSD:
"When laying out file systems, remember that hard drives transfer data =
faster from the outer tracks to the inner. Thus, smaller and =
heavier-accessed file systems should be closer to the outside of the =
drive, while larger partitions like /usr should be placed toward the =
inner parts of the disk. It is a good idea to create partitions in an =
order similar to: /, swap, /var, and /usr.
The size of the /var partition reflects the intended machine's usage. =
This partition is used to hold mailboxes, log files, and printer spools. =
Mailboxes and log files can grow to unexpected sizes depending on the =
number of users and how long log files are kept. On average, most users =
rarely need more than about a gigabyte of free disk space in /var.
...
The /usr partition holds many of the files which support the system, =
including the FreeBSD Ports Collection and system source code. At least =
2 gigabytes of space is recommended for this partition.
When selecting partition sizes, keep the space requirements in mind. =
Running out of space in one partition while barely using another can be =
a hassle.
As a rule of thumb, the swap partition should be about double the size =
of physical memory (RAM). Systems with minimal RAM may perform better =
with more swap. Configuring too little swap can lead to inefficiencies =
in the VM page scanning code and might create issues later if more =
memory is added.
...
By properly partitioning a system, fragmentation introduced in the =
smaller write heavy partitions will not bleed over into the mostly read =
partitions. Keeping the write loaded partitions closer to the disk's =
edge will increase I/O performance in the partitions where it occurs the =
most. While I/O performance in the larger partitions may be needed, =
shifting them more toward the edge of the disk will not lead to a =
significant performance improvement over moving /var to the edge.
...
A standard FreeBSD GPT installation uses at least three partitions:
=95 freebsd-boot - Holds the FreeBSD boot code.
=95 freebsd-ufs - A FreeBSD UFS file system.
=95 freebsd-swap - FreeBSD swap space."
Source: Chapter 2. Installing FreeBSD; 2.6. Allocating Disk =
Space
=
https://freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-partitioning.html
--------------------
I seek more than a description or documentation of where to find a =
default installation's partitions listed.
I want to know from people who planned their partitions for performance, =
maintenance, and non-default use, in my case, development/testing of =
projects aiming for cross-platform and platform-independent Python, C, =
Java, PyQt5 code (using SQLite) and the dev/test OSs on two N-boot =
workstations are Windows10, FreeBSD, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, =
DragonflyBSD, and GhostBSD.
So, I am researching what people have done with 1TB/2TB =
FreeBSD-exclusive HDs when ZFS is not used.
Hope that makes it more clear.
best wishes,
"frank"
frankfenderbender@council124.org
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