Need advice about partitioning

["Robinson, Andrew W." <Andrew.W.Robinson@xxxxxxx>]

I'm setting up a Kickstart configuration for engineering workstations at our site. I need some advice on how to partition the disk. I was hoping you guys could provide some ideas.

 

My workstations are Dell 670 series PCs with 4 GB of RAM and a 147 GB SCSI disk. The partitions I'm proposing to use are these:

 

/boot - 100 MB

/ - 20 GB

swap - 2 GB

swap - 2 GB

swap - 2 GB

swap - 2 GB

/var - 20 GB

/opt - 20 GB

/extra - rest of disk

 

The reason I have the /extra partition is that I think the bulk of the space will be needed by the /var and /opt partitions. However, I'm not sure what the exact need will be, so I want to hold the "extra" in reserve until I do know. For this purpose, I *think* the optimal layout would be to have the /var, /opt and /extra partitions grouped together at the end of the extended partition. That would allow me the most flexibility to shift space after the initial partitioning.

 

My first Kickstart configuration looked like this:

 

part /boot  --fstype ext3 --size 100

part /      --fstype ext3 --size 20480

part /var   --fstype ext3 --size 20480

part swap                 --size 2048

part swap                 --size 2048

part swap                 --size 2048

part swap                 --size 2048

part /opt   --fstype ext3 --size 20480

part /extra --fstype ext3 --size 20480 -grow

 

 

The partition table I got had /boot, /opt and /extra as primary partitions and /var and the swap patitions as logical partitions. I'm thinking the worst way to layout the disk with future changes in mind is to have the partitions I want to change split across the extended partition. So I tried to "guide" Kickstart by laying out my partitions this way:

 

part /boot  --fstype ext3 --size 100 --asprimary

part /      --fstype ext3 --size 20480 --asprimary

part swap                 --size 2048 --asprimary

part swap                 --size 2048

part swap                 --size 2048

part swap                 --size 2048

part /var   --fstype ext3 --size 20480

part /opt   --fstype ext3 --size 20480

part /extra --fstype ext3 --size 20480 --grow

 

This time, /var, /opt and /extra were put on the extended partition, but /extra was the first logical partition and the three swap partitions were put at the end.

 

So here come some pretty nebulous questions.

 

1. Can I "guide" Kickstart to lay out the disk the way I want? Or would I need to run fdisk in the %pre section to gain that much control?

 

2. Do I need this much control? Does it really matter how the partitions are laid out relative to each other if I expect to shift space between them later with parted?

 

3. Am I fixated on the wrong idea? Is there another way to think about this disk layout altogether?

 

Thanks!

 

Andrew Robinson