Thanks for the info..
one question - I need top performance since I'm dealing with very
large databases. any suggestions per virtualization? I've tried
vmware workstation with unacceptable performance results...
On Sep 19, 2008, at 3:27 PM, Chris Snook wrote:
kevin kempter wrote:
Hi List;
I have a new dev server. As an independent consultant I want to
maximize it's use. Some of my clients use RedHat/CentOS 64 bit,
others Redhat/CentOS 32bit, some are even using Fedora and Debian.
Here's my thought:
I'd like to install each OS/version into it's own space on the
disk. I'm thinking all I have to do is install one OS (say CentOS
64bit) and partition say 20% of the disk. Then once the install is
done, boot into the latest fedora disk and do the same, etc.
Is this correct ?
Later I want to add a disk array and allocate a RAID mount point
that can be mounted by any of the installed Linux'es when it's
active.
Is this do-able ? Easily ?
Thanks in advance...
If you can virtualize, you should, because it's a lot simpler, but
if you can't, this is what I routinely do to solve this problem:
1) Start with a grub-based distro first for ease of bootloader
configuration. Make sure it's one you have a rescue disk for in case
you screw something up and need to reinstall grub.
2) Allocate a small /boot partition (200MB should be plenty) and put
almost all of the rest of the disk in an LVM volume group, but leave
a few GB free.
3) Allocate your swap space and other shared filesystems (such as /
home) in the LVM volume group. All modern (2.6 kernel) distros will
be able to use these. Allocate your root filesystem out of this
volume group as well. 10 GB should be more than enough for any
distro's root filesystem.
4) When you install additional distros, allocate a small /boot
partition out of the free space you left when partitioning, and put
the rest in LVM. Make sure to install the bootloader for the
additional distros to the first sector of their boot partition,
rather than the MBR, so it doesn't blow away the primary grub
installation. This is usually an option under "advanced bootloader
options" or something like that. If you accidentally blow away the
grub installation, you should be able to reinstall grub with the
rescue disk for the primary distro.
5) Create a chainload entry in the grub.conf for the primary distro,
pointing to the /boot partition for the new distro, like this:
title chainload RHEL5 (sda3)
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
Now, at boot time, you'll get the list of kernels installed on the
primary distro, and list of the other distros you can chainload. If
you choose one of the other distros, it will launch that distro's
bootloader, and then boot it normally.
This is a little bit of a pain, but it works. I recommend using
virtualization when suitable, as it saves a lot of the hassle of
bootloader configuration. Putting most of your disk in LVM will also
allow you to allocate logical volumes to be virtual disks, which is
MUCH faster than file-backed virtual disks, so this partitioning
scheme works for both purposes.
Make sense?
-- Chris
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