mount / , /home , /home/usr on different partitions

alekoos · 04-26-2004, 12:28 PM

How can i mount "/" , "/home/users" etc...(any mount point that i want) to different partitions ???

Does this help with security even i am running a desktop PC (which i do)??

tmorton · 04-26-2004, 12:44 PM

Hi,
You can edit your /etc/fstab file. Mine looks like:

Code:

bash-2.05b$ cat /etc/fstab
/dev/hda2        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/hda7        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
/dev/hda6        /home            ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/hda5        /boot            ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/hda1        /mnt/win         ntfs        defaults         1   2
/dev/hda10       /mnt/icewater    ext2        defaults,users   1   2
/dev/hdc         /mnt/cdrom       iso9660     noauto,users,ro  0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0

Note /dev/hda7 and /dev/hda6.

As for security, not that I am aware of...
--Taj

jailbait · 04-26-2004, 12:46 PM

"How can i mount "/" , "/home/users" etc...(any mount point that i want) to different partitions ???"

Yes. You can do it by copying the files to the other partition, deleting the files in the original directory and editing fstab to add the new mount point.
For example if you want to move /home /users to /dev/hdb1 then log in as root and (assuming that /dev/hdb1 was formatted as ext3) do this:

mkdir /silver
mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /silver
cp -pR /home/users/* /silver
rm /home/users/* -R
umount /silver
rmdir /silver
edit /etc/fstab to add /home/users as a mount point
reboot

Here is a thread that describes the process further:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=163748

"Does this help with security even i am running a desktop PC (which i do)??"

No.

----------------------------
Steve Stites

shilo · 04-26-2004, 12:57 PM

Wow, that's interesting. Everyone seems to be saying that mounting on different partitions doesn't help with security. I had read that it does. Most importantly, /tmp & /var . I don't have a whole lot of details, but I am going to look this up this evening and post back. I'm almost certain that it does help security.

jailbait · 04-26-2004, 01:10 PM

Under some circumstances mounting /var and /tmp on separate partitions will help stability, but not security.

----------------------
Steve Stites

tmorton · 04-26-2004, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Under some circumstances mounting /var and /tmp on separate partitions will help stability, but not security.

For example, if the logs in /var/logs get large, or temp files in /tmp get big, it won't slow the whole system down because they can't expand to the whole / partition and eat more space.
--Taj

pnh73 · 04-26-2004, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jailbait
Under some circumstances mounting /var and /tmp on separate partitions will help stability, but not security.

----------------------
Steve Stites

It can help in the protection of your system from DoS attacks as it stops your main partition/filespace filling with a gigantic log if someone tries to DoS by creating lots of errors, such as HTTP 404 errors which are easy to generate.

This can combatted by log rotation or by putting logging such as /var on a separate partition.

MS3FGX · 04-26-2004, 02:57 PM

Yes, all it will help with (on the security side) is DoS attacks.

However, unless you are running some service available to the internet, this isn't a concern, and moving those directories to different partitions will not have any real benefit to you (unless you need to move them because of space constraints).

jailbait · 04-26-2004, 03:10 PM

Here is a thread which explains why you might want to put the base directories on separate partitions.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=163517

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeB....home.page.html

Steve Stites

alekoos · 04-27-2004, 02:41 AM

1)From what i read security&&stability is a mater only if i am running some service on the net(e.g. shell accounts,web server,ftp server...).

2)If only i connect on the internet with the linux PC there is no problem except if there is a bug at any of the processes that i am running..but then i guess the attacker will look for other dirs that /home/users or /.

3)But it is good to have /home and /root (and if i prefer /tmp+/var/log)to different partition to save any data i want if i need to format my PC,right?

pnh73 · 04-27-2004, 11:02 AM

Yes, it can be good from a backup and data safety point view. If your normal partitions have a crash there is probably a higher chance that you might be able to recover the /home contents if it is on a separate partition, and even better if it is on a separate hard disk.

alekoos · 05-03-2004, 08:56 AM

another silly questions.Mounting on different partition means that:

if i have / on hda1
and /root on /hda2
if a user get an access to / he cannot see /usr ???
Errmm.... I mean that when i do "ls /" will the "/root" folder be displayed ??
if not how can i access it ??

tmorton · 05-03-2004, 09:08 AM

It will be displayed if you it is mounted. Why do you have a separate partition for /root? I, personally, would have one for /home instead, since my data is backed up on a different partition.

You can add an entry to /etc/fstab to have a partition automatically mount.
--Taj

alekoos · 05-03-2004, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tmorton
It will be displayed if you it is mounted. Why do you have a separate partition for /root? I, personally, would have one for /home instead, since my data is backed up on a different partition.

You can add an entry to /etc/fstab to have a partition automatically mount.
--Taj

i wrote a custo example that's why i wrote about /root, but /home is good also

.So the dir that it is on another partition will be under / but just the data will be saved on another partition

just not to lose the when you want to format your disk, right ??

tmorton · 05-03-2004, 11:39 AM

Yes, correct.
Here's what my HDD looks like (40GB):

Code:

/dev/hda1 (NTFS, 5GB) [Primary]
/dev/hda2 (Swap, 256MB) [Primary]
/dev/hda5 /boot (40MB) [Logical]
/dev/hda6 /home (5GB) [Logical]
/dev/hda7 / (15GB) [Logical]
/dev/hda8 /mnt/lfs (6GB) [Logical]
/dev/hda9 /mnt/arch (2GB) [Logical]
/dev/hda10 /mnt/icewater (3GB) [Logical]
Free Space 2GB

As you can see, I've got my hard drive split up into small little sections. This lets me run a few different distros, while keeping my /home data. Also, when/if I upgrade Slack, I can move important things to /home, or another partition so it won't be lost if I reformat.
As a piece of advice, make your /home partition *Really Big* (tm). 8-10GB should be enough. I'm running out of space on mine

.
--Taj