Re: [SLE] /usr almost full

From: Jon Nelson (jnelson-suse_at_jamponi.net)
Date: 01/07/05

  • Next message: Michael W Cocke: "Re: [SLE] Duelling SAMBAs" 
    Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 19:02:43 -0600 (CST)
To: "Paul W. Abrahams" <abrahams@acm.org>

    On Thu, 6 Jan 2005, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:

    > On Thursday 06 January 2005 6:01 pm, B. Stia wrote:
    > >
    > > Going to have a problem soon. My /usr partition is 94% full. (didn't
    > > realize that /usr/lib_64 was over 300 megs alone) When I originally
    > > setup my system I created several large partitions, some of which have
    > > lots of space.
    >
    > I've set up several SuSE systems, and for a long time I thought it was wise to
    > have separate partitions for the separate top-level partitions
    > (/usr,/var,/home, etc.). But my experience now is that it's better to put
    > everything in one partition to avoid precisely the pickle you're in -- one
    > partition grows unexpectedly while the others still have plenty of room left.
    >
    > I think the idea of having separate partitions for separate components of the
    > top-level filesystem is really a historical remnant of the days when you
    > needed to distribute the filesystem over several hard drives because a single
    > drive wasn't big enough. Those days are gone. I know there's a case to be
    > made for having /usr, say, mounted read-only so people don't muck with it,
    > but really, you can do just as much by setting the permissions properly.
    >
    > Maybe I'm missing something here. I'd like to hear other opinions.

    There IS an even better option. Use LVM. I haven't set up a Linux box
    without LVM in... years. Personally, I use a *small* /boot (maybe
    100M), and the one of the two following scenarios (let's say I've got
    /dev/hda):

    /dev/hda1 /boot 100M This is the boot partition.
    /dev/hda2 SWAP xxxM Swap
    /dev/hda3 / 500M This is / (aka, 'root')
    /dev/hda4 LVM REST This is the first "pv" for LVM

    I create a Volume Group (aka, "block device") out of /dev/hda4.
    Then, I create logical volumes (aka "partitions") from the Volume Group.
    If I were to name my LVM "system", here is what I might do:

    /dev/system/usr /usr 750M
    /dev/system/var /var 750M
    /dev/system/tmp /tmp 1.0G (also symlink /var/tmp and /usr/tmp -> /tmp)
    /dev/system/opt /opt xxxM
    /dev/system/usr_local /usr/local xxxM
    /dev/system/multimedia /multimedia (shared multimedia) xxxM

    and so on.

    Later, if I find that 750M is not enough for /usr (and I'm using a
    reasonable filesystem like ext2/3, jfs, even reiser can be enlarged
    !! NOTE: ext2/3 can also be shrunk!!), I go into single-user mode
    ('init 1' or 'telinit 1', etc...), and then issue the following
    commands.

    For jfs:
     Do not unmount.
     Enlarge the "partition" (logical volume):
      lvresize --size=+500M --test /dev/system/usr
      !! The plus ('+') is very important.
      If that looks OK, then I reissue without --test.
     Remount:
      mount -o remount,resize /usr
     
      jfs will automatically enlarge to the size of the LV.

    For ext2/3:
     Bear with, it's been a while.
     Unmount
     use resize2fs
     mount

    For reiser/xfs/other? Dunno. Don't use them.

    Now, obviously your volume group has to have space available, but
    hey, with today's disks, that's not usually a problem. Or, go buy
    another disk, add it to the volume group, and then add. /dev/hda only a
    5G and you need 30G of space over 3 filesystems? Buy another drive and
    use LVM.

    I use LVM on top of raid5 or raid1. 

    --
Carpe diem - Seize the day.
Carp in denim - There's a fish in my pants!
Jon Nelson <jnelson-suse@jamponi.net>
-- 
Check the headers for your unsubscription address
For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com
Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com
  • Next message: Michael W Cocke: "Re: [SLE] Duelling SAMBAs"