From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Aug 24 02:15:27 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 02CB716A418 for ; Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:15:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (gizmo.acns.msu.edu [35.8.1.43]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9219113C467 for ; Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:15:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: from gizmo.acns.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l7O2B840063628; Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:11:08 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc@gizmo.acns.msu.edu) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by gizmo.acns.msu.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id l7O2B8j6063627; Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:11:08 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jerrymc) Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:11:08 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister To: Andrew Gould Message-ID: <20070824021108.GB63418@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <56712.67.176.75.179.1187816225.squirrel@webmail.wcubed.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Cc: Brad Waite , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: /var or /usr for data? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:15:27 -0000 On Wed, Aug 22, 2007 at 09:51:35PM -0500, Andrew Gould wrote: > On 8/22/07, Brad Waite wrote: > > > > It would appear that the "proper" allocation of filesystems on FreeBSD is > > to put all data in /usr. I'm used to this and have been doing it for > > years. > > > > However, there's a few issues that keep coming up. A lot of the ports use > > /var for data dirs. MySQL, Qmail, dspam are a few that I've had issues > > with. > > > > Is there a canonical place to put data files on a modern FreeBSD server? > > Figuring out the sizes for each partition is an exercise in frustration > > when I don't know how big /var or /usr are going to grow. > > > > For now, I've changed the default config files for MySQL and dspam to use > > /usr/local for data dirs, but is this the "right" thing to do? > > > > I used to put everything on /, but that created problems when I couldn't > > fsck the single large partition and I had to boot from CD to fix things. > > That's an issue when the server's not in the same state. > > > > A Solaris associate of mine is of the opinion that /usr should be able to > > be mounted RO for security purposes. If /var was the default for all > > add-ons and data, I could see that, but that wouldn't work the ways things > > are now. > > > > I usually move the data directories (/usr/home, /usr/local/pgsql, > /var/db/mysql, etc) to a separate, hard drive mounted at /data and create > symbolic links back at the default locations. If you run out of space, you > can move the data to a larger hard drive and either adjust the links or have > the new drive mount at /data (or wherever you choose). Check out man hier for some information on how FreeBSD wants to use the directory structure. Generally /usr and those under it contain utilities and /var stores data that can change a lot. ////jerry > > I hope this helps. > > Andrew > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"