Systems - Ubuntu - Ultra Secure Server - Decisions to Make
Hard Drive partitions
Use a design that allows for dynamic growth and fine-tuning.
- This prevents volumes becoming completely full, which is a definite no!
- Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is used, which lets you add disks, replace disks, copy and share contents from one disk to another without disrupting service (hot swapping).
The following volume will remain outside the LVM:
| Volume | FileSystem | Size | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| /boot | /boot | 1 GB | boot volume - This will remain static in size. It is also the only space residing outside the Logical Volume Manager (LVM). |
NOTE: Recent versions of Linux and Ubuntu do support having the /boot volume within the LVM.
The following volumes will be within the LVM.
| Volume | FileSystem | Volume Size | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| /dev/vg01/root | / | 2 GB | root volume - Operating system and everything else which should remain fairly static. |
| /dev/vg01/usr | /usr | 2 GB | usr volume - Contains by far the largest share of data in the system. |
| /dev/vg01/var | /var | 2 GB | var volume - This is the app/database/log storage area and will continue to grow over time. |
| /dev/vg01/tmp | /tmp | 2 GB | tmp volume - This location will be used for temporary storage. Adjust size as required. |
| /dev/vg01/srv | /srv | 0.5 GB | srv volume - This will contain the files stored in the Samba share. |
| /dev/vg01/opt | /opt | 0.5 GB | opt volume - This location is occasionally used for specific software. |
| /dev/vg01/home | /home | 0.5 GB | home volume - This is where personal user files will be stored. |
| /dev/vg01/backup | /backup | 4 GB | backup volume - This will contain a local backup of any databases and other important data, so space needs to be around double /var. |
| /dev/vg01/sharewiz | /sharewiz | 0.5 GB | sharewiz volume - This will contain scripts used to administer the system, and should remain fairly static. |
NOTE: Swap partitions are no longer used by default. Instead Swap files are used.
However if using a system that still uses Swap Partitions then also include an allocation for this too as such:
| Volume | FileSystem | Volume Size | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| /dev/vg01/swap | swap | 4 GB | swap volume – Initially set to 4GB. This should remain static in size, however, if the amount of RAM is adjusted, this should be adjusted as well. See note below on recommended swap space. |
NOTE: Even though the above sizes will fill most of a 20GB hard drive, it it recommended to still use the same sizes even if you have a far bigger drive. The system will be set to auto grow the necessary partitions as required.
The exception to this is for the /var partition, which could be made much bigger from the start if you know for instance that a large database will be installed into it.
If you do increase the size of the /var partition then remember to also increase the size of the /backup partition accordingly. See Disk Security for further information.