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My preferred partitioning, without Windows, is /dev/md0 /boot /dev/md1 LVM where both md devices are RAID-1 devices spanning two identical drives. Then when I create the volume group, I give it a unique name based on the server's hostname, to avoid naming conflicts if I ever need to put the disks in a different machine for emergency maintenance, and name each volume for its purpose, e.g. "root' for /, "var' for /var, "swap" for the swap volume, etc. When I create the volumes, I set their sizes failry small, and then grow them as needed, so i don't end up wasting space in one filesystem while running out on another. As the system's storage needs grow, I can add additional RAID-1 sets to the volume group, or I can upgrade to larger drives by adding the larger RAID-1 volume, pvmove'ing everything off the smaller volume, and removing the smaller volume from the volume group. I did this a few months ago to upgrade one of the BLU servers from a single 80 GB drive to a RAID-1 pair of 750 GB drives, and the process went smoothly. Jerry Feldman wrote: > The subject of partitioning comes up every once in a while. > Generally on my systems at home, I create an extended partition in the > first primary, and create root, home, and possibly /usr/local. At work, > I've been using LVM. For installfests, I generally shrink down the > Windows partition and create an extended in one of the remaining > primaries. (Windows usually takes up 2 partitions one for Windows, and > another for restores). > > I generally don't bother with a dedicated /boot partition, but thee are > some pros and cons. The /boot partition cannot be part of LVM so on LVM > installations you need /boot as a separate partition. In any cases > there are a number of pros and cons regarding the use of a separate > partition for /boot. One of the major reasons for /boot is that the > GRUB stage 2 must be within the first 1024 cylinders because of the > limitations of the MBR. > > Currently, as technology moves forward and disks become faster and more > dense we are still locked to the old technology: > > 4 Primary partitions - this is a physical limitation of the partition > table. > > A maximum of 16 logical partitions. I'm not sure if this is a > limitation imposed by libata or by Windows. I've never been constrained > by this. > > At this time, I'm just starting another discussion of how people > partition their home systems. There are a lot of other factors that > affect how systems are going to be used at work and is beyond the scope > here. > > So, here is my preferred partitioning scheme with no Windows(either > sda or hda: > /dev/sda1 Extended > /dev/sda5 Logical / (root) > /dev/sda6 Swap > /dev/sda7 Logical /home > On my 160G HD I also have an additional partition whee I keep > downloads, and ISOs. Currently, I don't use a separate /usr/local since > I would prefer to rebuild or reinstall the stuff I use in /usr/local. > > In a typical Windows XP or Vista installation at installfests. > Additionally, I either use the Windows resize utility to resize the > partition, QTPated or GNU Parted. I do not use the Distribution's > partitioning. My procedure is to first reduce the size of the Windows > C: partition, then immediately boot into Windows to make sure > everything works. This way I have a reasonably good chance that the > Linux install does not damage Windows. I then edit /boot/menu.lst to > delete the second Windows boot entry pointing to the D: partition. > > /dev/sda1 Primary NTFS Windows C: > Defragged and > reduced. > /dev/sda2 Primary NTFS Windows D: > Normally hidden > /dev/sda3 Extended > /dev/sda5 Logical / (root) > /dev/sda6 Swap > /dev/sda7 Logical /home > These days I generally use ext3 since SuSE has pretty much forsaken > ReiserFS. > > > -- > Jerry Feldman <[hidden email]> > Boston Linux and Unix > PGP key id: 537C5846 > PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [hidden email] > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >
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