RE: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root
Machine will run one copy of FreeBSD5.1 and has three hard drives: 2 x 200GB and 1 x 100GB drives. I was planning to use the 100GB for backup to store dump images of this machine. The 200GB drives are mirrored root vinum volumes - however that is accomplished. The purposed of the machine: - Backup server + Stores dump images of 5 web servers - Web server configuration website version control + Should store the configuration files of each web server + Web pages are published to this server * Each webserver should sync its config files and webpages with this configuration server - not sure which method is the best: rsync, cvsup, other? - Intranet webserver running apache Using mod_python + perl cgi Intranet Wiki Server to capture notes (twiki looks the best so far) - Keeps FreeBSD 5.1 up-to-date using cvsup nightly. - Build server Will keep kernel + apps up-to-date as needed Plan to have web server just run the make install via NFS from this build server I know I'm asking too much of this machine, but that's why something like vinum should be on it. Clearly, reliability is paramount. Is there ever an advantage of having two slices for a drive when running just one copy of FreeBSD on there? So, let's say split the 200GB into two slices. First will have the standard partitions /, /var, /tmp, swap, /usr. Then have /data on 2nd slice. What's the disadvantage of doing this? How will this affect vinum - better or worse? I understand that having more unix partitions might help limit data corruption if the machine crashes. So was planning to split things up into partitions as the following: / - 256MB, swap - 512MB, /var - 1GB, /tmp - 256MB, /usr - 198GB (rest). Should these partitions be done under ufs2 and then put vinum on each, or should I just have one giant root drive and then have vinum split things up? Given vinum is dependent on ufs, the corruption issue probably still holds true. Is there a choice - in other words have one big unix filesystem and use vinum to partition or have many unix partitions and each one is transitioned into a vinum volume? Sorry for long post - just lot's of things trying to figure out. Would appreciate any comments / advice on any particular point. Clearly a FreeBSD newbie, but been going through the books and trying to figure this thing out. Richard Fed up with RedHat and found the power of FreeBSD, but power = complexity. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tillman Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 9:03 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root On Tue, Jul 22, 2003 at 09:57:23PM -0700, Richard Johannesson wrote: Is this second method outdate, or is there simply several ways to accomplish this task. I'm new to FreeBSD, so setting up vinum seems a little overwhelming. Just trying to mirror a 200GB root drive with another 200GB drive. Just out of curiosity, why would you want a 200GB root (/) file system? My sloppiest server consumes 54MB in /. -T -- The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out alive. - Robert Heinlein ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root
On Mon, Jul 28, 2003 at 12:03:55AM -0700, Richard Johannesson wrote: Is there ever an advantage of having two slices for a drive when running just one copy of FreeBSD on there? So, let's say split the 200GB into two slices. First will have the standard partitions /, /var, /tmp, swap, /usr. Then have /data on 2nd slice. What's the disadvantage of doing this? How will this affect vinum - better or worse? I don't think it'll affect vinum in any way, other than making it a bit easier if you don't need / mirrored. It will make backups much easier. Partitions sized to fit your backup media can be very convenient :-) It can also prevent problems, like /tmp or /var filling up your / and causing havoc. It can also cause problems if you incorrectly size things. Vinum's ability to add new sub-disks to certain types of plexes combined with growfs can be great for handling these sorts of situations. -T -- The knowledge of the ancients was perfect. How perfect? At first, they did not know that there were things. This is the most perfect knowledge; nothing can be added. Next, they knew that there were things, but did not make distinctions between them. Next, they made distinctions between them, but did not yet pass judgements on them. When judgements were passed, Tao was destroyed. Chuang-Tzu ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root
Actually there is one other source I found: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/vinum/ Good arcticle, but a little old so I'm guessing it's not appropriate for Rel 5.1 since vinum setup / support in 5.1 has been improved. Is this a bad assumption? Again, I'm just trying to figure which method is best to setup a mirrored root drive for FreeBSD 5.1. Thanks again, Richard -Original Message- From: Richard Johannesson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 9:57 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root Read everything I can find on vinum: vinum website, freebsd documentation on vinum, and Complete FreeBSD section on vinum. Still not sure which method is correct for setting up a mirrored root drive for a FreeBSD 5.1 system. The instructions I've found online regarding a vinum root drive, http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/vinum-root.html, does not mention any need to first install freebsd on a normal drive and then convert that root drive to a vinum drive. The instructions from the The Complete FreeBSD by Greg Lehey on installing FreeBSD5.1 on Vinum specifies to 1st do this freebsd install then convert to vinum. One thing this book mentions is to create the swap directory 1st so the vinum configuration will be stored in the 1st 265 sectors of the swap slice. Is this second method outdate, or is there simply several ways to accomplish this task. I'm new to FreeBSD, so setting up vinum seems a little overwhelming. Just trying to mirror a 200GB root drive with another 200GB drive. Would really appreciate any advice on this matter. Thanks, Richard ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: FreeBSD5.1 Vinum Mirror root
On Tue, Jul 22, 2003 at 09:57:23PM -0700, Richard Johannesson wrote: Is this second method outdate, or is there simply several ways to accomplish this task. I'm new to FreeBSD, so setting up vinum seems a little overwhelming. Just trying to mirror a 200GB root drive with another 200GB drive. Just out of curiosity, why would you want a 200GB root (/) file system? My sloppiest server consumes 54MB in /. -T -- The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out alive. - Robert Heinlein ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
