[Novalug] WHOOPS Should've been re /var/log (Re: Novalug Digest, Vol 14, Issue 39)

[Roger W. Broseus]

This is a RE-Send to correct the subject line.

I tried to hit stop but email whizzed to NOVALUG before I could correct 
the subject line. Sorry, folks.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Jean,

You asked for opinions and I've got 'em! But, putting that aside:

I used to have separate partitions for /var, /var/log, /etc, not to
mention /home, /, /boot, etc. I studied hard in the SuSE manual when
partitioning and thought I had a great setup. Then I switched distros
and found that - a-la winders, distros put things where they wanted them
and it was different from SuSE. During one install - maybe it was VMware
(maybe not), /var filled to the brim and stopped the whole shebang. /
filled-up unexpectedly even tho I had a big /bin and /usr.

So, I simplified to many fewer partitions. No separate partition for
/var, /var/log, etc.

Only argument left for a separate partition that I see is one advanced
to protect from mail bombing: have a separate partition for mail. Then,
if it fills-up, it won't bring your system down or cause other apps to
fail due to lack of space to write files. That's not a problem for me
'cause my email sits on someone else's server until I download it.

If you are running a server, as opposed to a "desktop" environment like
I'm doing, your needs might lead you more towards a separate partition(s).

I imagine that, based on my experience, some of the older how-tos on
partitioning are out-of-date.

Roger W. Broseus - Linux User
    NEW Email Address: RogerB at bronord.com
    Web Site moved to www.bronord.com



novalug-request at calypso.tux.org wrote:
>    2. /var log and other partitions (Jean Figarella)
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:30:21 -0500
> From: "Jean Figarella" <jeanfiga at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Novalug] /var log and other partitions
> To: Novalug at calypso.tux.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<5a6ce3360712171030k40573831n90744b7fdbd1fd8e at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Assuming that /var resides in its own partition, what happens if it fills
> up? What are the consequences to the system, will it still be online but the
> daemons/services would crash?
>
> What if /var/log resides in its own partition and it fills up, will the
> different services die, or just spit out errors and not log anything? I
> assume that by drilling down to var log, damage is minimized if the logs
> fail. Also if using (for example) postgres, then it would still have most of
> the system to grow its database.
>
> Any opinions?