Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 23:58:08 -0600 From: "J. Seth Henry" <jshenry@net-noise.com> To: <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Partition preferences... Message-ID: <001701c06b12$fe9bca60$0e01a8c0@guinevere> References: <bulk.12661.20001220134542@hub.freebsd.org>
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I normally create separate partitions for /, /usr, /var. Since I only use ultra-wide SCSI, I usually toss on a separate disk for /tmp - but I've been known to create partitions on the main disk for /tmp. Naturally, <swap> is a separate partition. I do this for a number of reasons - primarily, for mounting purposes: / - 50Mb - since practically nothing is held open for writing, / usually doesn't require much of an fsck in the rare case of an unplanned reboot. It also encourages me not to log in and work as root. :) /usr - 4+ Gb - mounted separately so it can be mounted read-only on secure systems. (it's habit for me to create a separate partition for this, but I suppose you could leave this in the same partition as /) /usr/src - 2Gb (and usually on a separate drive) - I had an extra drive, and there wasn't any point in wasting space on the main drive. Not entirely necessary... I use this partition to compile everything (/usr/src/projects and /usr/src/ports reside here) /var - 128Mb - kept separate since it *usually* has open files on it. If the system goes down, it doesn't take other partitions with it, since this (and /home) are the only partitions with stuff open /tmp - usually on a separate drive. The only reason I do this is because 50Mb isn't much, especially when it starts half full. I put it on a separate drive because I prefer to keep a working OS on a single physical disk, so I offload anything not absolutely vital to other disks. I don't have any problem with /usr/src and /tmp sharing a physical disk. /home - _always_ on a separate drive. In case I need to migrate, I just pull the drive out. A holdover from when my main server OS was WinNT. Has come in handy though, particularly when I migrated from Linux to FreeBSD. Seth Henry jshenry@net-noise.com > In Chapter 5 , Where to put /var and /tmp section:- > " If we don't specify anything else, /var & /tmp will end up > on the /root > file system,which > isn't enormous. If we leave things like that,there's a very > good chance that > the root file > system will fillup" WHY ? > Do it good to create separate partition for /var & /tmp like > / & swap ? I don't speak for Greg, but I think he suggests creating a single partition. I know there are arguments back and forth, but I think the old argument is root gets very little write access, and therefore should be seperate from /var, /etc, etc. Perhaps to prevent the root from crashing with another parition. I myself just use a single partition. Supposedly with the newer harddrives/computers, there is less reason to break up into multiple partitions. Greg could explain this much better. That said, I am only running a gateway. There may be valid reasons to break up into mulitple partitions, especially if this is for mission critical use. I am sure someone will provide a more detailed rational. Also check the message archives, I have seen this thread before. ...Michael... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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