RE: [Computerbank] Linux distribution standardisation

["Raul" <rauly@bigpond.net.au>]

> On Mon, 10 Dec 2001, Raul wrote:
> > I definitely vote for one / partition + swap on the first
> drive. If there is
> > two HD's in a machine, take the second one out for parts!
> >
> > In rare cases we probably could break off /home, though the
> extra protection
> > it gives us is small in comparison to automatic backups, second drives,
> > server storage etc.
> >
> > Raul <- Another KISS supporter! :)
>
> If a recipient's system has to be rebuilt, or the main / partition needs
> to be reformated, having /home on / is not so KISS.

It may seem like it on the surface, though looking into it I think it is a
moot point (especially in light of the lack of backup strategy).

Firstly, I thought you can do a rebuild and simply not reformat the target
partition, then again, I could be wrong there. If it nukes directories in
this process, it will only take out the root user, ftp, and web. Not
/home/bgates/.

Most importantly, the space issue. How big do you make /home? How much free
do you leave for system and /tmp? Not all drives are big 6+Gig jobs to start
with, so what is reasonable. I know from dealing with my systems, the most
efficient use of space is to make one partition as compared to estimating
growth of all your directories.

Other issues:
* Hard disk dies = they are screwed no matter how it's partitioned
* User error / exploit = no safer than 1 partition

Minor/easy fixed issues:
* Have you enabled autofsck in fstab? Better do so as most installations I
thought defaulted to just fsck'ing the root partition on boot.
* Which partition number is you root partition on? It's a small issue, but
depending on order you create increases the number of possible boot
locations. Important if people start nuking boot sectors or screwing up
lilo.

The best pro's for /home is single-system systems that require a rebuild.
Why would they require a rebuild unless they have done something as root
elsewhere to screw things up? Most other disk/partition table errors that
would require a rebuild would also lose /home as well.

Plus most systems that I have seen lose data do so because the person who
did it didn't know there was data to save. If they format the main
partition, they will probably delete /home or format it too. :(

The most sucessful case for /home is when you have servers that will be
upgraded. I don't think we will be upgrading countless systems from Redhat
7.1 to 7.2, FreeBSD 3 to 4 etc. If we did then a separate /home is
essential!!!

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