Sandiah Notes

 

If you plan a dual boot (Linux and MS Windows on the same computer), first use your DOS/Win
utility FDISK to make the MS Windows partition(s). Leave a part of the hard drive(s) unpartitioned
for Linux. You will make and format the Linux partitions during your RedHat installation. Make the
MS Windows partition "primary" and "bootable". Install, configure, and test your MS Windows
before Linux installation. If you plan to run Linux only, you need just clean hard drive (no
partitions) to start with.
It is possible to have only one Linux partition (plus one for MS Windows if you dual-boot). But it is
better to have more partitions so you can keep users’ data separate from the rest of the operating
system. This way, if something ever goes wrong and you have to reformat and re-install the operating
system, you don’t lose the users’ data. (You can however do a Linux re-install without losing the
contents of the /home directory that contains all user data if you skip the "re-format" option given to
you during installation.)
During the Linux setup, you will be asked to partition the available space on your hard drive(s).
There are many possible ways to partition, depending on your hard drive space, requirements, and
taste. I like Linux hard drive partitions like this (for a modest total of 2 GB that I dedicated for
Linux):
mount point type size
/ ext2 300 MB
/usr ext2 1200 MB
/home ext2 380 MB
swap swap 120 MB
In the above example, I dedicate 300 MB for the root partition that holds the base of the Linux
operating system. I give 1200 MB for the mount point that will be visible on my filesystem as the
/usr directory and will contain user’s programs (the programs that don’t come with the base
operating system and I install later, for example WordPerfect). I dedicate 380 MB for the partition
that will be visible as the directory /home and will contain the setting and data of all users on the
machine. And I give 120 MB for a "raw" partition for the operating system to use as the virtual
memory (extension of the physical, silicon memory on the hard drive, so-called swap). If your kernel
is lower than 2.2 (this is the case with standard RH5.2 and earlier), your swap partition cannot be
larger than approximately 127 MB. The rule of thumb is that the swap should be about twice the
amount of the physical memory (RAM). 120 MB is quite a bit of swap and it is unlikely you should
need more. If you think you do need more (e.g. you expect to run custom programs with really large
data structures) you might want to create a larger swap partion during the installation (or several
smaller swap partitions) or add swap a file(s) later.
2 GB is a lot of disk space and should be sufficient even for users who like having many applications.
(This is because Linux applications tend to be slimmer than their MS Windows equivalents).
However, if you try to install everything that’s available for Linux on the Internet, you will surely run
out of disk space :-) . My experience is that however large the hard drive space, it will get filled and I
regret I don’t have more :-) .
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If my space on the hard drive is really restricted, I may consider a two-partition setup like this (for a
lean 650 MB total dedicated for Linux):
mount point type size
/ ext2 600 MB
swap swap 50 MB
In this example, I dedicate 600 MB to contain the base of the operating system, applications, and user
documents/data, and give 50 MB for the swap partition (for the operating system to use as the virtual
memory). The 50-MB swap should be quite sufficient for medium duty operations. The limitation of
600 MB for the operating system, applications and user data means that you will have to be selective
as to which applications you install or else you risk running out of hard drive space. Try pressing
<F1> when installing the optional software that come on Red Hat CD--it will give you a short
description what the software does so you could perhaps decide if you really need it. (Don’t worry
too much if you miss something you need, you can install the missing parts later). You can easily
finish the RedHat installation with 200 MB free on your Linux partition (out of 600 MB used in this
example) if you make reasonable choices. Please note that "bundling together" the root partition "/"
and the /home directory will likely save you some disk space, but it is not the safest solution.
It is possible to install Linux on even less disk space than in the example above, but you will have to
be even more selective as to what you install.
For a larger available hard drive space, I may consider the following setup (for a comfortable total of
6 GB dedicated for Linux):
mount point type size
/ ext2 400 MB
/usr ext2 2000 MB
/usr/local ext2 2500 MB
/home ext2 800 MB
swap swap 300 MB
Please note that the the mount points can reside on different physical hard drives.
Another consideration when setting up the partitions. Many older BIOSes have the restriction that the
boot partition cannot extend beyond the 1024th cylinder on your first physical hard drive. To
overcome this limitation, simply make the first (bootable) partition so that it ends before the cylinder
number1023 (this makes this partition max approximately 512 MB in size, which is plenty for the "/"
root partition). Once Linux boots, the BIOS restriction does not matter any more as Linux can also
access the partition(s) beyond the cylinder number1023.
When installing and using Linux, your drives appear as devices with the following names: hda--first
IDE drive (stands for "hard drive a", i.e. the master drive on the first IDE interface), hdb--second
IDE drive (i.e., the slave drive on the first IDE interface), hdc--third IDE drive (i.e. the master drive
on the second IDE interface), hdd--fourth IDE drive (i.e. the slave drive on the second IDE
interface). The numbers mean the partitions on the physical drives: "hda1" means the first IDE hard
drive (hd a), first partition (1); "hda2" is the first IDE hard drive, second partition; "hda3"--the first
IDE hard drive, third partition; (and so on if you have more than 3 partitions on the first IDE hard
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drive); "hdb1"--second IDE hard drive, first partition (or just "hdb" if it is the CDROM installed as
a slave on your first IDE interface). "hdc1"--third IDE hard drive, first partition, etc. SCSI drives
have analogous names but start with letters "sd" (="SCSI drive"), followed by the letter indicating the
SCSI interface and by the number indicating the SCSI device id. For example, "sda4" means "first
SCSI interface, id number 4". If you have an external zip drive attached to your parallel port, it will
apear as a SCSI device "sda4" (it works in a SCSI-emulation mode).

Referensi > Ebook Newbie Administrator Guide