Moving VAR TMP HOME OPT to new partitions
 

Hello,

I see from several documents it is wise to have directories such as the /HOME /VAR /TMP /OPT on a different partition from the root partition

and then mount them as /HOME /VAR /TMP /OPT

I question is

When I install SUSE 9 ES it gives you a couple of basic choices i.e how big do you want the swap partition and the root partition etc but that is about it from what I can see. Therefore when the server is installed the above directories will be on the root partition

Now I know I can use FDISK etc to create other partitions for the above or may be two one for home and another for the others

but do I then move the VAR OPT TMP directories to these new partitions when mount them as above then put the mounts if FSTAB (I think that’s the right file) so they mount on boot up?

Will I be able to move all thee files in these directories when the system is running? Will I have to be are run level 3 (no X) to move the files

My idea is to run VMWARE for Linux on the system and I want to make it as fast as possible to I thought I would create an EXT2 no journaling file system partition to hold VMWARE (or at leave the virtual machine files) as I believe this will be faster than ext3?

if I move these above directories in this fashing are there any config files that I have to update or will the fact that they are mounts as /TMP /VAR etc mean as far as the config files are concerned they look like they are in the same place as before?

Thank you in advanced for you help..

You can have another partition for /home, but it is optional. It does make it easier to have /home on another partition if you are installing multiple Linux distributions or re-install Linux.

I recommend /var be another partition because it will take over the space that it is on when you enable debug for a module.

It is optional to place /tmp another partition. Some admins set it up as a loop device.

You do not have to worry about /opt filling up. Not a lot of distributions put files under /opt.

You can move the files and directory that is under /opt to another partition. For /var and maybe /tmp, can not copy it. You have to use a Live Linux CD distribution to copy the files and directories under /var and /tmp.

EXT2 is not safe because it will be highly vulnerable by inproperly shutdowns. EXT3 and ReiserFS will be better.

Thanks
 

Thanks for the information Electron

To recap if I want to copy place the VAR and TMP directories on another volume I have to mkdir on this other volume then copy these directories direct from the install CD then mount them as /var and /tmp then put these mounts in the INITTAB or FSTAB (not sure which one is correct) so they mount at system startup reboot then the server will see these mounts as the place to store and fine files related to /tmp and /var

Is the above correct please?

If so do I just leave the files in /tmp and /var on the root partition alone?

I know ext2 is not journaled like ext3 but this should be OK as it is a lab server and I want to run it as fast as possible i.e. putting VMWARE on ext partition with a few virtual machines like Novell and Windows server my thinking is they will run faster if on an ext2 partition.

Thanks again Exlectron I will be grateful if you could kindly clarify the above for me Thanks
John