[SunRescue] Max capacity of harddisk supported by SS20

[CyrusM.Reedreedc at cc.wwu.edu]

The 2 nice things about separate partitions are 1) you can keep a kernel
within the first 2GB of disk (where the PROM can find it) by making a
separate root partion there and 2) you can mount some partitions read-only
for security (not that I've ever done this).  But as I believe you've
noted, it really depends on what your needs are/what you are doing with
the system.  For example, on the SS10 I just installed OpenBSD on, the
disk was only 1GB, so separate partitions would have led to far too much
wasted space; besides which I'll only be using it for a workstation
anyway.  My Linux box on the other hand has several partitions set up on
its 9GB disk because space wasn't a premium, and it just made more sense
for how I use it.  I haven't seen any partioning scheme that works for
everyone all of the time, except for the one that lets you choose how you
want to do it.  :)

-Cyrus

On Fri, 21 Jul 2000, Paul Theodoropoulos wrote:

> There have been 'religious' wars going on in comp.unix.solaris for 
> years now on the various partitioning philosophies. In my opinion, 
> the issue is moot if you are using a recent revision of Solaris - 7 
> or 8 - since journaling is built into the filesystem.
> 
> I've been running production systems for years now with just one 
> BigAss(tm) root partition, along with swap. Once set up, I turn on 
> logging in /etc/vfstab, and then it's nothing but smooth sailing. 
> If the system is mission-critical, I mirror the boot disk, and 
> still use journalling. Simplify, simplify, simplify. I'm currently 
> mentoring a junior admin, and being able to simply say that the 
> disk layout will always be root on /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 and swap on 
> /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 eliminates confusion and uncertainty.
> 
> When the current technologies are taken together - large, fast 
> disks with excellent MTBF, along with a mature OS that includes 
> journalling - and the option to mirror in software when it's 
> mission-critical - I think the scale tips in favor of a simple 
> root-and-swap layout.
> 
> But - as always - this is just an opinion! There's no laws 
> compelling anyone to partition their disks in any particular way, 
> so if someone wants to set up a six gig partition for 
> /usr/ucb,  well heck - more power to them.
> 
> regards,
> paul
> 
> 
> At 11:48 PM 7/20/00, you wrote:
> >The way I see it, this is not a very good idea. The more you put 
> >in one
> >filesystem, the greater the risk that the file system gets 
> >corrupted. By keeping
> >all more or less frequently changing data on separate partitions 
> >(/home, /var,
> >/usr, /opt), your chances of being left with an inoperable system 
> >are somewhat
> >smaller. If you install a lot of free-/shareware software, keep 
> >your /usr
> >partition large. If you use a lot of commercial Sun software, keep 
> >your /opt
> >partition large.
> >
> >Camiel.
> 
> -----------------------------------
> Paul Theodoropoulos   paul at atgi.net
> Senior Unix Systems Administrator
> Advanced Telcom Group, Inc.
> Santa Rosa, California
> Work: http://www.atgi.net
> Play: http://www.anastrophe.com
> 
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