From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 11 23:56:22 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 388A116A4F5 for ; Wed, 11 May 2005 23:56:22 +0000 (GMT) Received: from ms-smtp-02-eri0.texas.rr.com (ms-smtp-02.texas.rr.com [24.93.47.41]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F32643D70 for ; Wed, 11 May 2005 23:56:21 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from syah@io.com) Received: from lemuria (cpe-68-206-107-213.satx.res.rr.com [68.206.107.213]) j4BNuIe1019368 for ; Wed, 11 May 2005 18:56:19 -0500 (CDT) Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 18:56:09 -0500 From: Ryan Stark To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20050511185609.22f779c9.syah@io.com> In-Reply-To: <42822285.9050402@donnacha.com> References: <42822285.9050402@donnacha.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 1.9.7 (GTK+ 2.6.4; i386-portbld-freebsd5.4) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; micalg="PGP-SHA1"; boundary="Signature=_Wed__11_May_2005_18_56_09_-0500_8ZhU6/S9FIxyTefi" X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine Subject: Re: I need further HDD advice before submitting order. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 23:56:22 -0000 --Signature=_Wed__11_May_2005_18_56_09_-0500_8ZhU6/S9FIxyTefi Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:19:33 +0100 freebsd.org@donnacha.com wrote: > Hi again, >=20 > I posted a question here last week, asking for advice on how I should=20 > ask my datacenter to divide up the HDDs in my new server. Thank you > to everyone who responded. >=20 I might make different choices in partioning a server in datacenter enviroment vs. my workstation at home. It is likely you will not have physical access to the machine, and thus you have to have a technician to service it for failures - at least. I like to know my datacenter's and more importantly their technician's familarity with BSD. I also would like to keep is simple for these techs, and practice KISS whenever possible.=20 >=20 > Server purpose: Initially just forums, later sundry other Web apps > i.e. ecommerce, ticket bookings etc. Will possibly become a heavy- > duty email server at some stage. >=20 > 2GB RAM >=20 > 80GB HDD IDE: > / =3D 1GB > /usr =3D 15GB > /local =3D 15GB > Swap =3D 4GB > Unallocated =3D 40GB >=20 > 200GB HDD IDE: >=20 > /tmp =3D 2GB (is that enough?) > /home =3D 28GB > /var =3D 100GB (will inclube the forum databases etc) > Unallocated =3D 70GB >=20 This storage scheme, or similar would do fine for such a server, imho.=20 Since these are IDE disks, I would also consider the fail rate of modern large IDE disks (especially) in a datacenter. Should one of these drives fail, you must ask yourself - does your server have onsite backups? How mission critical is your server's uptime - for ecommerce, etc? If the disk dies and you have to reinstall the OS, how long is the datacenter's turnaround on reinstall(+ restore if you have it)? It is good to plan in advance for the unforseen. Many BSD servers I have encountered in a webhost/datacenter enviroment like a disk mirror setup, and update the backup disk every day/week/* hours or so. When their system goes down after hours due to disk failure, the datacenter has special instructions to just swaps the drives, and re-rack the server. Problem solved. Even if the problem is not hardware related, you could still ask the datacenter to swap disks in the event of any server issue that takes more than one hour to diagnose. If the server is not mission critical and can stand 24 hours of downtime, then this may not be as important a consideration.=20 This disk mirror method is similar to the altroot method also mentioned. A mirrored disk vs. a mirrored partition differences? Well, it depends on how mission critical your server is. Depends on how many disks your server can hold, and how cheap they are from your datacenter. If disks are cheap, and there is room in the server - I would suggest a mirrored disk solution for server failure. If you cannot afford it, don't have room for more disks, or have onsite backups - then altroot will still be a lifesaver, take up far less space, and cost nothing additional. > I'll be asking them to put the both disks in dangerously dedicated > mode, with each on a different IDE bus. >=20 I personally would not do dangerously dedicated mode for disks in a datacenter enviroment(I do use it at home), again to keep it simple and stock for the benefit of anyone else working with the server. Just like all the other FreeBSD boxen in the datacenter. If a tech does not know in advance your server's disks are in dangerously dedicated mode, and has to deal with your server for some reason, he might mistakely blow away your disk in not recognizing the altered disk device layout. A more likely result would be the tech taking an additional 15-20 minutes to figure it out. Again, if the datacenter knows FreeBSD and about dangerously dedicated mode, then this setup method would not be as big an issue. The real gains of using dangerously dedicated mode does not outweigh these potential hazards in my experience. > I decided not to use GPT because, although it sounds great, it seems > a little complicated for a newbie like me. If it is complicated or unfamilar for you, then it may also be complicated or unfamilar for the techs who administer your server. Unless they know their stuff, I would not expect them to have a good working knowledge of GEOM or vinum. Due to this, I would be leary of using either of these setups even if I did feel comfortable with GEOM and vinum administration and setup. KISS - keep it simple, it's my mantra. > I would be very grateful for any and all advice. >=20 I realize this opinion does not necessarily add any new advice on your partition scheme, per se. However, I hope it may have brought up some additional considerations when outfitting new HDD for a server in a datacenter enviroment. best of luck! --=20 Ryan Stark | syah io com --Signature=_Wed__11_May_2005_18_56_09_-0500_8ZhU6/S9FIxyTefi Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFCgpuezETXYDWf4IIRAnD0AKDHcimd7447+6p9ty+OfSCKNd6/fgCgxX/5 FXXXFMrGMs4ABVVn40/+Fco= =iRnW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Signature=_Wed__11_May_2005_18_56_09_-0500_8ZhU6/S9FIxyTefi--