Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 22:19:18 +1030 From: Malcolm Kay <malcolm.kay@internode.on.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Toomas Aas <toomas.aas@raad.tartu.ee>, Ronald Maggio <ron_maggio2004@yahoo.com>, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: An installation on SCSI Drives Message-ID: <200510312219.18725.malcolm.kay@internode.on.net> In-Reply-To: <4365F16A.5070102@raad.tartu.ee> References: <20051030214423.11355.qmail@web52109.mail.yahoo.com> <4365F16A.5070102@raad.tartu.ee>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:56 pm, Toomas Aas wrote: > Ronald Maggio wrote: > > Other then /root, /swap, /user, and /var, what other > > partitions are needed for a first go at FreeBSD, in Linux > > /home is often used, but what is a good lineup for FreeBSD > > other then the ones named so far? > > First, let's get our terms correct. > Yes let's! > A typical FreeBSD installation on one HDD uses two partitions: > a FreeBSD partition and a swap partition. Inside the FreeBSD > partition are slices, which are mounted under directories > (mountpoints) such as /var. So, your question seems to be > about slices, not partitions. > The usual BSD terminology is just the reverse of this. What MS calls partitions are usually known in FreeBSD terminology=20 as "slices". BSD reserves the term "partitions" for the BSD subdivision of a=20 BSD device (which might, in fact, be a slice) and this predates=20 MS use of the term by many years. And while the BSD swap partition can be mounted in a different slice it is usual for it to be a partition within a BSD slice. And also usual (but not essential) for all the the native BSD file systems on the one physical disk to reside in the same=20 slice. Or one can "dangerously dedicate" the entire physical drive to=20 BSD and dispense entirely with slices; as in traditional BSD systems -- but this is not generally favoured in modern times. =46or the OP; in the days of rather flakey drive performance it was=20 usual to make a root partition mounted on '/' of a minimum size=20 to run the basic startup and maintenance and keep the remainder=20 of the system in other partitions. Just how this was distributed=20 tends to be somewhat dependent on the time in history. Swap is=20 is almost always a separate partition that does not (in BSD)=20 carry a file system in the usual sense.=20 But going back a bit /usr was almost always a separate partition=20 often containing the 'home' tree of user files. The 'best' or 'optimum' depends on both the machine usage and=20 what factors you consider most important. In this day use of a separate partition for /home (and of course one for swap) with the remainder all in the root partition '/'=20 seems to be quite satisfactory for general use. Malcolm Kay > The default FreeBSD installation doesn't have slices such as > /root or /user - which doesn't mean you can't create them if > you want. Also, as you understood, /swap as slice does not > exist, because that's a separate partition. > > If you are not sure what slices you need, you can use the > "automatic" option during FreeBSD install to use the defaults. > Often, however, you may find that some other arrangement might > better suit your intended use of the machine. > > On a "typical" server, nowadays, I set up the slices like > this: > > / 128 MB > /var 2 GB > /var/tmp 256 MB > /usr 4 GB > /storage (all the rest) > > Then I symlink /tmp to /var/tmp. If there will be considerable > amount of users, then I create /storage/home and symlink /home > to that. Also /storage is used for various purposes depending > of the tasks that the server performs, such as /storage/www > for webpages, /storage/mail for mailboxes, /storage/share for > Samba shares etc. > > > The books I=92ve read so far really don=92t relate a whole lot > > in this regard. > > Partitioning/slicing is largely a religious issue and everyone > believes their choice is The Right One, so the archives of > this mailing list might provide you with more material than > you can digest :) > > > If I need to span a partition over more than one hard drive > > how is this done? If I were to make a large /user partition > > over small drives, how are these partition extensions set > > up? Again the books don=92t relate how this is done during an > > installation. > > In the days of FreeBSD 4.x, I used vinum for such purposes. In > 5.x, as I understand, there is gvinum for the same task, but I > haven't used that. I much prefer hardware RAID adapters.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200510312219.18725.malcolm.kay>