UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have search the archives with no luck. Looking for help with my specific system.

I have an SUN ULTRA 2 with dual 4.3GB HD's. I installed Solaris 8 with default settings (auto configure)and 2nd drive was partioned /export/home/extra as the only mount(4.3 G's).

I then reinstalled the OS (for practice) using only 1 (4.3 G) drive and have the following partitions:

# df -k
Filesystem kbytes used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 90991 59434 22458 73% /
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s6 699775 527988 115805 83% /usr
/proc 0 0 0 0% /proc
fd 0 0 0 0% /dev/fd
mnttab 0 0 0 0% /etc/mnttab
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 33607 11542 18705 39% /var
swap 689200 16 689184 1% /var/run
swap 689200 16 689184 1% /tmp
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s5 24919 2691 19737 12% /opt
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 378055 245053 95197 73% /usr/openwin
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s7 2524591 442915 2031185 18% /export/home

Upon adding a cluster patch, (or addtional software), I was told I did not have enough room(/var/sadm/ for installation (cluster was installed with -nosave option later - sucessfully).

Basically, I want to install Sol 8 again using BOTH 4.3G drives, but have no clue on how much space to distribute to each mount/partition(Taking into account the size of both drives).

**This is a non-production box and any advice on how it should be set up so I can continue practicing without reinstalling would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Since this is just a sandbox, why not just make all 4.3 GB /? That will allow you to utilize the space most efficiently.

i dont know solaris so im sorry if this wouldnt work on it, but what i would try to do is pick a reasonable swap size and /boot (or whatever other partition you need) and use the fisrt hard drive for that, whatever space is left over on that, use the equivalent of LVM for solaris to combine that left over space and the whole second hard drive and mount that as / . just a suggestion.

I would like to treat it as a production box......and install packages....other software...etc. Rather not just put it all as /.

Aren't u required to have other partitions?(/var, /usr, /swap...etc?)

What are these default partitions mainly used for....which one should be the largest, second largest, and so on. (I know it matters what the box is going to be used for which will probrably determine this).

Eventually I would like to learn how to make this a general web server(file server).

How would you set the partitions largest to smallest? Should/can I incorporated the second disk with the installation (/var, /usr/) or leave it as /export/home/extra for large files or extra storage?

I have no clue, but I would rather learn now then having to keep reinstalling and setting up new partitions each time I run out of room.

Thanks in advance....

What kind of Solaris 8 install is the first question. I would start with an end-user install. But I would use the custom mode and add some stuff. I find that it is easier to add stuff from end-user than it is to go with full+oem and remove stuff. But putting Solaris 8 on a 4 GB disk is a tight fit and some choices will need to be made.

The first question (sizewise) that the install will ask is swap size. I would go with 1/2 a GB with your disks. A second swap partition can be added to another disk later.

A damaged root can mean that you can't boot the system. I think root should be small with no user-writable directories. I also think that you should be able to boot the OS with only the root disk. So I keep the core OS on one disk.

After you make your choices as to what gets loaded the OS will ask you for partition sizes. At this point, it will know how much it needs.

I would use a separate /usr. The install will give you a min size. Multiply that by some factor between 1.5 and 2.0 and use that. You may want to have a /usr/local later on. You can put that on another disk.

/var should be large. I would go will 1 GB even with a 4 GB disk. /var/adm, /var/log, /var/spool,
/var/crash, /var/mail,.... the list goes on. /var can consume disk space fast. Make it big.

/opt may be so small that you can leave it in root for now and maybe move it to another disk later.

You can use disksuite to mirror the root disk if you have an identical disk available for the mirror. But that will require a tiny slice for the disksuite database. If there is any chance that you want to mirror, make the smallest possible filesystem and call it /disksuite. This will leave the mirroring option easily open. Never put anything in here.

After you have made choices for /var, /usr, and maybe /opt, you can adjust the root size. Because it knows how much was moved out, the install program now knows how much it needs for root. This should be rather small. Double or triple the min size and go with that.

Call the rest /export or something.

This should give you an idea of where to start.

Immediately after the install, install the cluster patch. I see no problem using -nosave for this patch (only). I see the install and first cluster patch as a unit. But with a GB in /var you will have the option.

Install type is full+oem, then I went to custom and removed stuff I thought I may not need - guessing....

Thanks for the info and advice......just what I needed...I will give a try.


What is the /opt generally used for? Third party software???

/opt is for add on stuff. Sometimes third party software goes there. But if you buy Sun's compilers, they go there. Also we seem to have some 3D java stuff from Sun on one of our boxes. The point is that the OS can live without this stuff. Removing stuff from /opt should never crash a system or render it unbootable.