[SGVLUG] Linux Partitioning for Server

[matti]

Hi,

Yes, try to avoid using the RAID 5 for the root/OS,
ideally, and I know this isn't possible often
enough, I would have the root partition as
a RAID 1 

I also like Matt's recommendation of 
then breaking the RAID 1 and using
the off lined mirrored drive as
a hot spare/backup.

likewise, the SWAP area SHOULD NOT be
in the RAID 5... this you will find will
end up killing performance once things
hit swap. IF you are forced to do it,
then make certain you have LOTs of RAM,
and carefully monitor the system because
once it starts to use the swap space
you will be in trouble (performance wise)

I would try to do this with the phyiscal
drives:

[ drive 1 ][drive 2] = RAID 1/mirrored for OS/root 

[ drive 3 ] = swap 

[ drive 4 ][ drive 5 ][ drive 6 ] = RAID 5/data

this setup should result in the best performance
typically... 

hmmm... I guess people typically don't use an 
entire drive for swap anymore.. so I would put
that part on the RAID 1 drives and max the RAM
on the system. (and hopefully it would hardly ever
use swap.. )

best
matti


> I usually create a RAID1 for my
> boot partition, then take one of
> the drives offline.  That way you can bring it back
> online to sync after
> an OS update and have a ‘hot spare’ laying
> around if the server OS
> gets compromised or corrupted.