/Boot question

[cre8tiv_pgmr]

I'm setting up my partitions and getting ready to do an install of MDK9.0. I have a 40G HD with the following partitions:

10G - WinXP
20G - FAT32(to be shared)
10G - Unallocated(to be used by Linux)

I have been researching linux partitions and have settled on this arrangement:

/boot - 20MB???
/ - 750MB
/swap - 128MB
/usr - 1G
/home - remaining
(this arrangement courtesy of MDWatts)..:D

Does this set up look good? Do I need anymore partitions? Is the /boot partition really needed in a dual boot system with WinXP?

[JohnT]

I'd bump my /usr up to at least 3 times that amt. and /home to about 2gigs and add a /var for doc's and logs about 500-750 mb's. You could cut your boot down to about half of what you indicate.

[mdwatts]

I seem to remember replying to your original question on suggested partition sizes?

Did you originally say that you were using 10gb for Linux and didn't you list some kind of requirements? MP3 server or something similiar?

<edit>

I did a forum search for previous threads posted by 'cre8tiv_pgmr' and didn't find any that I posted partition suggestions.

Are you sure I didn't suggest that for another member with a 3gb HD?

[2damncommon]

I never use any partitions but "swap" and "/" unless there is a reason I want to do otherwise. It keeps it simpler.
Other configurations can be a good idea (a "/home" in particular) but I figure if I don't know what I need and how to do it, it is not really necessary.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by 2damncommon
but I figure if I don't know what I need and how to do it, it is not really necessary.


That's quite a statement on philosophy.:D

[cre8tiv_pgmr]

I did a forum search for previous threads posted by 'cre8tiv_pgmr' and didn't find any that I posted partition suggestions.

Are you sure I didn't suggest that for another member with a 3gb HD?


Yes, you did post it for someone else. I used it as a model for my own set-up. Didn't mean to confuse anyone, just wanted to give props to the right people.

[smokybobo]

Originally posted by 2damncommon
I never use any partitions but "swap" and "/" unless there is a reason I want to do otherwise. It keeps it simpler.
Other configurations can be a good idea (a "/home" in particular) but I figure if I don't know what I need and how to do it, it is not really necessary.

The only problem with that is it's much more of a security risk.

At the very least, you should have separate partitions for /, /tmp, and /var (and /home if your system is a multi-user system) since /tmp and /var have the highest probability of completely eating up all your free space thus rendering your system unable to function or reboot (until you pop in the ever useful linux rescue, mount your HD, and delete all the crap that's filling up the disk).

Of course, if the system is for a single user and will never get on the internet or on a network, then I suppose it wouldn't matter much how you set up your partitions...

[smokybobo]

Originally posted by cre8tiv_pgmr
I'm setting up my partitions and getting ready to do an install of MDK9.0. I have a 40G HD with the following partitions:

10G - WinXP
20G - FAT32(to be shared)
10G - Unallocated(to be used by Linux)

I have been researching linux partitions and have settled on this arrangement:

/boot - 20MB???
/ - 750MB
/swap - 128MB
/usr - 1G
/home - remaining
(this arrangement courtesy of MDWatts)..:D

Does this set up look good? Do I need anymore partitions? Is the /boot partition really needed in a dual boot system with WinXP?

I'll chime in with a suggestion.

As per my previous post in this thread, I would set up your hard drive like this:

/ - 128MB
(/boot - 20MB)
swap - 128MB
/tmp - 300MB
/var - 1GB
/home - 4.2GB
/usr - 4.2GB
--------------------
Total - ~10GB

You can adjust /home and /usr depending on which partition you think will hold more stuff i.e. whether you think your programs will take up the most space (/usr), or if you think user data/programs will take up more space (/home).

A separate /tmp and /var is for security reasons (with /var on its own partitions being more important than /tmp as I stated before, and /tmp more having to do with the possibility of programs/users going crazy and start filling /tmp up with data)

You can also adjust /var depending on what you want your system to do. If you're gonna put a web site there, or if you use something like debian which stores backups of downloaded packages there via apt-get, then /var will need to be big. However, if all you're using it for is log files, /var can be something like 200 - 300 MB or even less.

And about needing a boot partition, it all depends where you put your boot loader. If you want to put the linux bootloader on the mbr, then you don't need a /boot partition. However, if you want to put the linux bootloader on the boot sector of the linux root filesystem (recommended!), then you will need a /boot partition somewhere under the bios 8GB limit.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by cre8tiv_pgmr
Yes, you did post it for someone else. I used it as a model for my own set-up. Didn't mean to confuse anyone, just wanted to give props to the right people.

Thanks as I do appreciate it.

BUT

I just don't want to be blamed for giving advise for a 3gb drive when you in fact have a 10gb. :D

I wouldn't have suggested those partition sizes for 10gb.

Just to clarify... I get blamed for enough around here. :(

[Vlad902]

Originally posted by mdwatts
Just to clarify... I get blamed for enough around here. :(

:(

Sorry if this is wrong but when I did my Linux Installation all I had was a 300-500 meg swap space partion and a 20 gb Linux partition... When I do cfdisk or fdisk or anything I still only see 2 Linux partions (/dev/hda3, swap, and /dev/hda5, Linux) So is it really neccesary to have so many partitons?

[theN]

Hi

Newbie asking more dumb questions, about to install RH8.0 -

However, if you want to put the linux bootloader on the boot sector of the linux root filesystem (recommended!),...
* would such a partition need to be a PRIMARY DOS partition?
* if Linux were installed in a EXTENDED LOGICAL DOS partition; how could the user make this partition active?
* Could the user have a 100MB PRIMARY DOS partition just to install the boot manager, then use FDISK to switch between ACTIVE partitions?
* Why is it recommended? is it coz ignoramuses like me won't have a chance to screw up ;)

You can adjust /home and /usr depending on which partition you think will hold more stuff i.e. whether you think your programs will take up the most space (/usr),...
the aforementioned seems general...oriented towards a knowledgable user who can make the calculations. Are there any specific criteria, for newbies, for calculating the size of the above partitions? The RH documentation does not say much about this.


/ - 128MB
(/boot - 20MB)
swap - 128MB
/tmp - 300MB
/var - 1GB
/home - 4.2GB
/usr - 4.2GB
* is this recommended partition sequence? I thought /BOOT came first.
* if I don't manually create these partitions, will RH automatically create any of these partitions under /

Could some one kindly post/point to information about the nature & use of each of the above partitions.

I would be very grateful for response/tips/pointers.

TIA & Regards
theN

PC Config
********************
P3-866MHz
256MB SDRAM
Intel 815 chipset (Kobian)
Onboard Intel 82815 Graphics Controller
Onboard Avance AC'97 Driver for Intel 82801BA Controller
20GB Seagate IDE HDD
Generic FDD
Logitech 3-button PS/2 Mouse
LG 40X CDROM (CRD-8522B)
LG 32X CD-RW (GCE-8320B)
Realtek RTL8029(AS) PCI Ethernet NIC
OS: Win'98SE (4.10.2222 A)
Current Partitions: C, D, E (6GB each) & F(remaining)
C=Primary DOS
D,E,F = Extended Logical DOS
********************

[JohnT]

After setting up windows, boot to the commandline in Linux and use the command "cfdisk /dev/hdx" to set up your Linux partition. You'll notice there is an option to "toggle boot" this is what is used to make a partition active. After you have made your /boot partition indicate with the "toggle boot" that it is to be active. Set up the rest of your partitions and when satisfied, write them to disk. Don't like the way you've set it up? Just Ctrl+Alt+Del and start over. Here's a link on disk partioning with other links onpage. Don't worry about getting it right the first time, practice makes perfect.:D

http://www.olemiss.edu/helpdesk/itnews/200003/linux.html


BTW: You can have up to 4 Primary Partitions on your drive. My prefered method is to initially set-up my disk with fdisk as 2 primary partitions and make the first one active. Then install windows and use the install program to further sub-divide any other partitions I want as Fat or NT.

[smokybobo]

Originally posted by theN
* would such a partition need to be a PRIMARY DOS partition?

Nope.

Originally posted by theN

* if Linux were installed in a EXTENDED LOGICAL DOS partition; how could the user make this partition active?

Just as JohnT said, using either fdisk or its more user-friendly (in terms of not having to remember as many commands) "graphical" cfdisk to set the boot flag on any partition. Just remember the 8GB bios limit on booting partitions. Of course, it really REALLY recommended to put linux on a real linux partitions, as using UMSDOS (file system that lets linux run on fat formatted partitions) makes it run sloooooooooooow.

Originally posted by theN
* Could the user have a 100MB PRIMARY DOS partition just to install the boot manager, then use FDISK to switch between ACTIVE partitions?

Why have a small dos partition to hold the linux boot loader? Just put a small (~20MB) linux /boot partition as a primary partition and stick the linux bootloader on that but only if your linux root filesystem is located beyond 8GB (because if the root filesystem is under 8GB, you can stick the bootloader on that and just set that partition as active).

Originally posted by theN
* Why is it recommended? is it coz ignoramuses like me won't have a chance to screw up ;)

It's recommended because the ONLY purpose for the MBR is to tell BIOS where the currently active partition to boot is. If you put a program in the MBR, then you run a risk down the road if something corrupts the MBR, ALL your OS will be inaccessible save via boot disk. Even Microsoft follows this and sticks their bootloaders (whether the old dos bootloader for Win9x or ntloader) on the bootsector of the c:\ partition.


Originally posted by theN
the aforementioned seems general...oriented towards a knowledgable user who can make the calculations. Are there any specific criteria, for newbies, for calculating the size of the above partitions? The RH documentation does not say much about this.

Regarding partition sizes, /home and /usr are really up to the admin's (i.e. you) discretion though they should be the two largest partitions. If you don't know, then make the two partitions equal (like in th example scheme I gave above). However, if you DO know that you'll have a LOT of applications installed, or if you DO know that your users will be putting a LOT of data in their directories, then you can change the sizes of /home and /usr to accomodate your situation.




Originally posted by theN
* is this recommended partition sequence? I thought /BOOT came first.

Beyond, /boot, it doesn't really matter what order the partitions go in. You would only use a /boot partition if the root filesystem of your linux os is beyond the 8GB bios limit.


Originally posted by theN
* if I don't manually create these partitions, will RH automatically create any of these partitions under /

If you don't specifically create those partitions yourself, either via fdisk, partition magic, or the redhat installer, then redhat will stick EVERYTHING under one big partition just like windows does. Again, if your system is single user only (meaning literally only one person uses it i.e. you) and NOT connected to a network, then this is fine. Otherwise, it's a security risk.

Originally posted by theN
Could some one kindly post/point to information about the nature & use of each of the above partitions.

I would be very grateful for response/tips/pointers.

TIA & Regards
theN

Sorry, but I don't have the time to scrounge up a good resource for partitions, though googling for it should come up with something.

However I will give a general run down of root directory uses:

/bin, /sbin, /lib holds apps and libraries required for the system to boot.

/usr holds apps that are used after the system has successfully booted.

/var holds any variable data that can easily be replaced (meaning, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to replace any files in /var if they get corrupted)

/etc holds configuration information for apps on the system.

/tmp is a world-readable temporary folder. Anything in here will be deleted at boot time.

/home contains your users' home directories i.e. where your users store their user-specific data.

/boot is where the kernel and other files that are not applications or libraries required to boot the system should go.

In terms of remote mounting these partitions (like from an application server), then /usr should be mounted read-only, /home should be world-readable (though specific users' home directories under /home don't have to be world-readable), /var, /etc, /boot, /bin, /sbin, /lib should NOT be mounted remotely at all as they're specific to the machine though certain directories under /var can be mounted remotely (like /var/mail or /var/spool/mail).

As a final note, for security reasons, you should follow what I posted in my previous post in this thread (in terms of separate partitions, partition sizes are debateable), or something close to it. Basically, it is a good idea to have at least a separate /, /tmp and /home, and /var partitions so you don't run the risk of your system becoming unusable due to lack of free space from some kind of attack (such as someone running an attack against your system which causes hundreds/thousands of log files to be generated, eating up all your space, or some unknowledgeable user running some weird program that writes a whole bunch of crap to /tmp or to their home directory, again eating up all free space and rendering your system unable to function). If your system is NOT hooked up to a network of any kind and is strictly for one and only one user (e.g. quickly installing linux on an old computer with a small hard drive just for the sake of practice, checking out new filesystem or new software, etc), then it doesn't really matter what partition scheme you use.

[JohnT]

Could some one kindly post/point to information about the nature & use of each of the above partitions.

I would be very grateful for response/tips/pointers.

TIA & Regards
theN


http://www.olemiss.edu/helpdesk/itnews/200003/linux.html

Posted several post above also.