| Lesson 4 | Planning partition size |
| Objective | Plan partition size. |
Planning Redhat Partition Size
After you have decided on the function of your machine, you need to consider carefully the sizes of the partitions you're going to create. If you are not careful, the partitions will be too small to store your information and may cause the computer to freeze when a partition runs out
of available space and is unable to accommodate new data.
Try to estimate future usage as best you can. It is very difficult and very dangerous to try to resize live partitions. Be careful not to undersize your partitions.
Following are some general partition size ranges for a typical system:
Try to estimate future usage as best you can. It is very difficult and very dangerous to try to resize live partitions. Be careful not to undersize your partitions.
Following are some general partition size ranges for a typical system:
| Partition | Size ranges |
|---|---|
root | 250-500MB |
boot | 16MB |
usr | 300-700MB |
var | Partition size depends on usage. The /var directory normally contains log, temporary, and lock files. |
home | Partition size depends on usage. If the machine is used for user accounts, enough space needs to be allocated to hold the users' files. |
| Temp space | 50-400M |
swap | 2-3 times the RAM installed in the machine |
The ranges cited above are for small desktop to large server installations, and are not set in stone. In planning and sizing partitions, you have to take into account what you will be doing with the system.
For example, on a system that just serves news or is a database server, it might be fine to have a relatively small root partition, which would contain any home directories, and a large /var partition. A separate /tmp partition is usually not a bad idea under any circumstance.
The following MouseOver illustrates typical partition sizes matched to machine function.
For example, on a system that just serves news or is a database server, it might be fine to have a relatively small root partition, which would contain any home directories, and a large /var partition. A separate /tmp partition is usually not a bad idea under any circumstance.
The following MouseOver illustrates typical partition sizes matched to machine function.
Web File Application - Server
The next lesson explains how to plan swap space.
The next lesson explains how to plan swap space.
Planning Partition Size - Exercise
Before moving on to the next lesson, click the Exercise link below to check your understanding of planning partition size and layout
Planning Partition Size - Exercise
Planning Partition Size - Exercise
