From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Oct 31 14: 9:34 2002 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 0A35737B401 for ; Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:09:32 -0800 (PST) Received: from sccrmhc01.attbi.com (sccrmhc01.attbi.com [204.127.202.61]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 820BC43E75 for ; Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:09:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from ukla@attbi.com) Received: from [192.168.1.100] ([24.130.182.29]) by sccrmhc01.attbi.com (InterMail vM.4.01.03.27 201-229-121-127-20010626) with ESMTP id <20021031220930.KLBN8743.sccrmhc01.attbi.com@[192.168.1.100]> for ; Thu, 31 Oct 2002 22:09:30 +0000 User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/9.0.2509 Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:09:30 -0800 Subject: Separating the OS from the data - tough to do? From: Steve Warwick To: Message-ID: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Hi,=20 -- Problem: Separating OS from underlying data. Which parts of the BSD OS are not part of the initial, never modified OS? Or, which pieces of the OS change due to useage. -- Goal:=20 To have a slightly modified BSD OS structure where the OS can be upgraded, yet the variable data remains the untouched (DNS, websites, mail etc), on another partition or disk, allowing an OS upgrade that can be as "plug & play" as possible. -- THEORY -- See reference below for BSD file system details. At first glance it looks like I can just move and soft link a few directories, /etc, /usr/local, /usr/home (websites) and /var. However if on= e upgrades the OS, is it possible to have all the installed apps separate? For example, I have Apache, MySQL and PHP installed. By moving/linking /usr/local to another partition or disk, is it possible that these apps wil= l run properly once the OS is upgraded and the soft link re-setablished? Will /var still function properly? Will MySQL re-write the DB files somewhere else next time it is optimized or repaired? All thoughts, ideas and input gratefully received. Hopefully this discussio= n will be of use to a few more people that just me :) --- For reference -- From: Filesystem Hierarchy Standard =8B Version 2.2 final Filesystem Hierarchy Standard Group the standard unix FS, moveable? directories marked with a & # bin Essential command binaries # boot Static files of the boot loader # dev Device files & etc Host-specific system configuration # lib Essential shared libraries and kernel modules # mnt Mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily # opt Add-on application software packages # sbin Essential system binaries # tmp Temporary files # usr Secondary hierarchy & usr/local * var Variable data Note:=20 The /usr/local hierarchy is for use by the system administrator when installing software locally. It needs to be safe from being overwritten whe= n the system software is updated. It may be used for programs and data that are shareable amongst a group of hosts, but not found in /usr. Need a copy? Email me for the PDF Steve To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message