Re: FW: Drive Partitions

[Bob McClure Jr <robertmcclure earthlink net>]

On Wed, Oct 08, 2003 at 11:48:22AM -0400, Buck wrote:
> Thanks for the reply. 
> 
> It's good to know so I have an idea about how to setup the partitions
> for servers and internet servers.
> 
> More replies follow.
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: redhat-install-list-admin redhat com 
> > [mailto:redhat-install-list-admin redhat com] On Behalf Of 
> > Bob McClure Jr
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 11:18 AM
> > To: redhat-install-list redhat com
> > Subject: Re: FW: Drive Partitions
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Yes.  In your /etc/fstab, the mount for /var should precede 
> > the mounts for /var/ftp and /var/www.  Duh, no?
> 
> Being the newbie to Linux that I am, I am sure to receive many more
> "Duh's".

Well, I wasn't casting aspersions about your newbie-ness.  My "Duh"
was meant to mean, "But that logically follows, if you think about
it."

> > > Thank you,
> > > Buck
> > 
> > If you really want to get paranoid, depending on the use of 
> > your server, you might want to put /var/spool (home of 
> > /var/spool/mail) and/or /var/log on separate partitions.
> > 
> 
> May I ask you to elaborate just a little more? What are the uses and
> recommended sizes of the suggested partitions and the reason to
> partition them?

The reasons are as you quoted from the book, to keep any one
filesystem filling up from killing the rest of the system.  Sizes are
largely based on experience, not surprisingly.

I consult for a small (less than 1000 customers) ISP and their
/var/spool/mail is 4GB and is at 22% used.  /var/log is 1GB and 37%
used, but recently filled up because we weren't rotating the snort
logs.  The system otherwise continued to function, but did send
applicable error messages in the morning report.  Besides fixing that,
I added something to the "goodmorning" script that warns when any
filesystem hits 90%.

On most of the systems I administer, I make sufficient partitions so
that I can keep two operational versions (current and one previous).
That way, when I upgrade, I punt everything in the old partition, copy
everything to it from the current system, assure it is functional, and
then upgrade it.  That way, if any part of the upgrade crumps, or
some major reconfiguration is required for new software versions, I
can revert to the (previously) current release until I can sort things
out.  More details at

http://www.bobcatos.com/upgrading.html

For that reason, I keep separate partitions for /home, /usr/local, and
/u.  The last one is for junk that is expendable and doesn't need to
be backed up.

> > Cheers,
> > -- 
> > Bob McClure, Jr.
> 
> Thanks again,
> Buck

You're welcome.

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
robertmcclure earthlink net  http://www.bobcatos.com
You may need to lose everything to find out that
   God is all you need.