[geeks] Dell T105 server arrives

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Apr 2, 2008, at 15:40 , Sandwich Maker wrote:

> " From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
> "
> "
> " Most Linux filesystems can be expanded, so a lot of them do it.
> "
> " That's an interesting question: could I create 1GB or so NetBSD  
> server
> " images, and expand FFS after the fact.
>
> not as fast as dd but much more flexible --
>
> how about a dump-fmt sys img?  partition your disk and lay out your fs
> the way you want, make enough of a dir skel to mount them all [and
> mount them], and restore away...  at least on solaris, it dtrt.
>
> i'm assuming the sys img would be made on a single-partition system,
> not a practical working layout but good for making images.

I don't split drives up as much as I used to.

/tmp is almost always in memory now, and that used to be the biggest  
PITA when someone filled it up.

My last Solaris install was:

big /
4GB /var
RAM /tmp
enough /export/home for server users, all other users go in /u

I usually put /u on another drive or a RAID array, and that's where  
the data goes.

I find the above layout generally prevents the more common "drive  
full" problems, plus modern UNIX doesn't vomit when root fills up.

I used to split things up like this:

	/	200MB (numbers are approximate, scale for year as apropos)
	/boot	just enough for the loaders and OS
	/tmp	I had a "formula" for predicting this
	/var	ditto, varied depending on OS, since some use /var a lot
	/usr
	/local -> /usr/local
	/opt
	/home
	/u

The increasing use of package systems, the increasing stupid ideas and  
demands from clueless users, and the decreasing time and money I have  
for admin means I take simpler approaches now, and the OS is more  
tolerant of things than it used to be.

Another approach is minimal / and /boot, and put the rest in /usr, and  
put user directories on your data drive.  Like this:

	/, just enough
	/boot, just enough
	/usr, most of the main drive
	/var, 4GB or so, enough for most any uses, 8GB or more for Debian stuff
	/u, separate drive or RAID for user accounts and data






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