[lug] Re: LUG Digest, Vol 44, Issue 1

[bgiles at coyotesong.com]

> On Tue, 2007-06-05 at 17:00 -0400, gordongoldin at aim.com wrote:
> This sort of process is required for databases as well, since the
> default location for MySQL is usually on the root partition somewhere.
> So I have to back them up, do the upgrade, then reinstall them.

Every major service should have its own partition, for precisely this
reason.  This was a minor pain with conventional partitions, but there's
no excuse when you have LVM.

I usually have partitions for web server, database server
(/var/lib/postgres), subversion server (/var/lib/svn), and mail server and
personal (~bob) web pages when possible.  It makes it much easier to
support virtual users if you have all mail under /var/lib/courier, all
personal web pages under /var/lib/ftp/, etc. than scattered about.  It's
also easier to use the appropriate backup tools.  Some things shouldn't be
backed up as files -- databases, subversion repositories, etc.

It's always a judgement call how far to take this.  E.g., you probably
won't bother if you only have a few entries in your DNS server.  But as a
rule configuration data can go on the root partition but all of the data
should live on dedicated partitions.

Another Very Good Idea is to put /var/logs on a separate partition.  This
lets you try to figure out what went wrong even if you have to do a
reinstall.  It also prevents certain DoS attacks.

Finally, some people put queues on dedicated partitions (e.g., the printer
and outbound mail queues).  I'm torn on that since there's one school of
thought that says that it's better to drop queues on the floor than to
submit duplicates.  The classic example is a payroll app that prints
checks.  You don't want duplicate checks popping out in two weeks if
somebody needs to restore from backups.

P.S., another good candidate is your package repository.  (e.g.,
/var/cache/apt).  A local copy could be very useful if you need to
reinstall your system!