Important Partitioning Question (also posted in Installation forum). Please HELP!
 

Please help my decide on partition sizes!!!
Hello everyone,
Whatz happening?

First, I'll start by saying, right off the bat, that I'm fairly new to the whole Linux thing. I've been scripting in Unix for roughly a year now, and have been working as a PC/Network technician for the last 2 years employed, and have been involved with computer technical stuff since the age of 13.

I usually chill out over at www.hardocp.com and www.amdmb.com, helping out with answering questions in regards to OCing and networking. But, alas, it is me that now requires all the help possible, as I am a complete newbie (...with a capital "N") to running and installing Linux.

So here is the situation. I have installed Linux roughly 4 times on 3 different machines. I have decided now that I like SuSE and Red Hat the best, so I will stick with those. In the past, due to my limited experience, I basically just allowed the OS to partition everything for me. I have experience with working with FDISK, but I'm completely lost when it comes to knowing how much space to reserve for each mount. People have said to me "just leave it as all one partition (..not including the SWAP file), but I'm too much of a tweaker to go the basic route. Not only that, but I would really like to learn as much as possible about how the professionals partition their servers and workstations.


The two scenarios are as follows:

Scenario # 1 --> This system is a K6-2 300 oc'd to 350MHz. It has 128 MB RAM, and a 20GB 7200 RPM Maxtor hard disk. It will be a dual boot system, running Windows 98SE and Red Hat 7.1
This system will primarily act as a server on my small home network. I would like to set up an FTP and CS server within Red Hat, and Win 98 will primarily be used when I have friends over playing multiplayer CS. I would like to keep at least 8 gigs for Windows 98 (2 GB for OS, 256 MB for Swap file, and remainder for program storage). The rest of the space can be handed out to Linux. As for file storage space for the FTP, I will probably add a second removable hard disk for that soon (dedicated to server files). SAMBA will also eventually need to be setup so that I can share files with Win2k systems on the network with Linux.
The question is: What do you recommend in terms of partitioning the mounts?
So far I was thinking:
/boot --> 250MB
/ --> 1.5 GB
/home --> 500 MB
/opt --> 1 GB
/usr --> 2 GB
/var --> 400 MB
/tmp --> 400 MB
/remainder ---> file storage for FTP

Remember, that the above system will have very little applications on it. I don't even know if I'm going to install the X-Window system, because Red Hat will primarily be acting as a dedicated CS server and FTP server.



Scenario # 2 --> For system specs, check my sig. Since all my HDs are removable, I will be running SuSE Linux 7.2 on a separate dedicated HD (as I want my Windows 2k drive left alone). The HD for SuSE is a 15 GB 7200 RPM Maxtor. This system will be a workstation and game center, so I will be installing the X-Windows system, probably using the KDE interface (Gnome is a possibility). Again, the question is, how should I partition the hard disk. So far I was thinking:

/boot --> 250 MB
/ --> 2 GB
/home --> 1 GB
/opt --> 2.5 GB
/tmp ---> 500 MB
/var --> 500 MB
/usr ---> 8 GB
/remainder ---> reserved for later, when I need it.


OK, sorry for the long post. Please, any assistance, comments, critisism, etc, would be much appreciated. Even if you're not sure, I would like to hear how you all partitioned your drives, and how the result turned out (eg. good, bad, not sure, etc.)


Thanks,
Soul


__________________
A+ Certified PC Tech.
(soon... Network+)

****Game System Specs****
**********************************
-AMD Thunderbird 800@978MHz (9.0 x 103) w/ Vantec FCE-63540D ----> 41 degrees full load
-Asus A7V Mainboard (BIOS v1.007)
-256 megs PC-133 IBM SDRAM @ CAS3
-30gig 7200RPM Maxtor UDMA100 HD (On Integrated Promise UDMA-100 Controller --> Primary Master)
-PowerColor GeForce II MX 32M @180MHz Core/155MHz Memory
-SB Live! 256 w/ Cambridge FPS 1000 Sound System
-Toshiba 48X CD-ROM (On On-board UDMA66 Controller -- Primary Master --> PIO Mode 4, DMA Mode 2)
-Panasonic 8x4x32 Writer (On On-board UDMA66 Controller -- Primary Slave --> PIO Mode 4)
-Mid Tower w/ 300W PS (1 x front 80mm intake fan, 1 x side 120mm Panaflow intake fan, 1 x rear 80mm blowhole fan, 1 x top 80mm blowhole fan)
-MS Internet Keyboard & MS Internet Scroll Mouse Optical

***OPERATING SYSTEM SPECS***
******************************
-Windows 2000 Professional
-SP1 Installed
-SP2 Installed
-All other latest MS updates installed
-VIA SP2 Patch Installed
-Microsoft UDMA-100 SP2 Hotfix
-DirectX 8.0a Installed
-IE v6.024 Installed
-VIA 4in1 V4.29 Installed
-Promise v1.65 build 33 Installed
-Detonator3 v11.01 Drivers Installed

your question answered
 

heck with fdisk, get partition magic 6-much much easier.
and if you are financialy disabled(like me :) ) there is a way to aquire said program-contact me if you have any questions icq 116410611.

haha...dude, I'm not into Warez.
 

I used to have my own distro site (0-3 dayz) back when I was 18. Toronto was one of the first places to get 2-way cable, so I had an awesome site at the time. Afterwards, I matured, and decided that any software I like, and use for an extended period of time I will purchase. Don't get me wrong, I still use www.astalavista.com to crack programs that I use a little bit, but not enough to pay for. However, anything good, such as Nero Burning ROM, Windows 2K, Anachronox, FFVII, etc, etc, I lay down the cash for.


And by the way, I don't like programs that artificially handle tasks for me. If anything, I'll set up a multiboot system myself, using the Windows 2K boot manager or LILO (...which are just as powerful as partition magic if you know how to use them). But my question was not regarding "how to partition", but rather "What should the Linux partition sizes be?"

;)

Peace.

The /boot partition only need to be around say 25 meg. I have used /boot partition for a while and it only contains the kernel images and some map files. Kernel images are about a meg or so.
I'll post back on my storage use later. I'm sitting on win 2k at the moment :(

Like another poster said, your /boot need only to be between 16-25 Mb. Everything else is really up to you and your specific use of the box.

Good Luck!!

Thankx for all the responses peepz.
 

I guess I'll just have to experiment with the rest of the mounts.

share the wealth
 

1. can't see paying for something overpriced that has too many bugs.
2. Im well over 25, and im financially disadvantaged
3. share the wealth!

You could buy CS fo Linux

Can't you resize partitions with an app that comes with RH 7.1 now?

Thought I saw it in there somewhere.

For a workstation.... the best setup is simply one big '/' partition. Overpartitioning your system will slow it down and its a waste of time. There are plenty of reasons you might want to partition out /usr, /home, or /var on a server in production but not many for doing so on a learning system or a workstation.

I have never had to have a /boot unless I did a dual boot (or was using an AXP processor).

Just make a swap and root partition and you will be done. Swap should be about twice your RAM if you are going to setup for crash dumps, but no more than 128 otherwise.

Read this for more info on partitions:
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Partition/index.html

KevinJ

Like KevinJ I just go for one fat partition but thats 'cos I'm lazy and it just my home workstation.

Whats an AXP processor??

cheers

Jamie...

Here are the defaults used by Red Hat's server install option.
/boot 16 MB
/ 256 MB
/var 256 MB
/usr 512+ MB
/home 512+ MB

/usr and /home get's at least 512 MB and then they share the rest between the two of them.

AXP = Alpha