Bad idea to place user home directory (aka /home/) and /var/ on the same partition

[petterreinholdtsen]

At the moment, the wishlist for the preseed setup contain (my translations) "we want everything installed under /", and related to this "we want to remove LVM and run everything "directly on the hardware". I suspect the idea is that if there is only one partition on the entire disk, there is no need for LVM, as one of its main features is making it easier to allocate space between partitions. Another important feature of LVM is the ability to add more storage by adding more disks, without having to repartition or reinstall the system. This last feature would still be useful with only one partition on the system.

If /home/ and /var/ are placed on the same partition, a user filling up the home partition can and will break system services. Most system services these days run as non-root users, so it will not help that the last 5% of storage is reserved for the root user. Several services failing to write to /var/ will crash and fail in a way that is hard to recover from. Because of this, I recommend to abandon the idea to run everything under / using only one partition.

In Debian Edu, there is the /usr/sbin/debian-edu-fsautoresize tool that can automatically allocate more LVM storage to partitions running full. This can for example run from cron. In a Debian Edu network environment there is also the fsautoresize-hosts netgroup to enable such cron job.

[malinkb]

Is a better approach to have a separate /var partition?

The reason why we don't want lvm, is that it just makes another layer of complexity as in many cases teachers are the one that will maintain the computers. This requires an approach that keeps the need for system administration to a minimum, and at a level that the average teacher can do it. Will a better approach be to have a separate /var partition and keep everything else under / ?

[petterreinholdtsen]

[Malin]

Will a better approach be to have a separate /var partition and keep everything else under / ?

Better than what? No LVM and everything on /, or with LVM and separate /var/ and /home/? It would be a lot worse that LVM with separate /var/ and /home/. -- Happy hacking Petter Reinholdtsen

[malinkb]

We want to get rid of lvm So what I am asking is. Is it better to have a separate /var partition instead of running everything on one partition under / still without involving lvm

If we have /var on a separate partition, will the computer still works if /home is filled to it's limits, given that /var still have free space

[petterreinholdtsen]

@.***

We want to get rid of lvm

Which is a bad idea.

So what I am asking is. Is it better to have a separate /var partition instead of running everything on one partition under / still without involving lvm

What I am trying to tell is you that both are bad.

If we have /var on a separate partition, will the computer still works if /home is filled to it's limits, given that /var still have free space

Some times it will, some times it will not. It depend on what is trying to write where when.

Btw, who are 'we'? I do not want to get rid of LVM. You seem to want to get rid of LVM. Who else is involved?

-- Happy hacking Petter Reinholdtsen

[solbu]

We want to get rid of lvm

Which is a bad idea.

The reason why we don't want lvm, is that it just makes another layer of complexity as in many cases teachers are the one that will maintain the computers.

And what is this complexity?

This requires an approach that keeps the need for system administration to a minimum, and at a level that the average teacher can do it.

I should point out that back in march 2012 Petter held a NUUG presentation on Skolelinux / DebianEDU, in which he pointed out that the goal of Skolelinux was that it should be so easy that his religion teacher in high school should be able to install this system. This teacher needed help with the TV and VCR. https://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/

So what I am asking is. Is it better to have a separate /var partition instead of running everything on one partition under / still without involving lvm

What I am trying to tell is you that both are bad.

I have to agree with Petter. Running everything under «/» is out right dangerous on a end user system, in my opinion. The Minimum in my opinion is to have a rather large «/», and the rest on «/home». I often use 30G on the filesystem hosting «/usr», 10G on the filesystem hosting «/var» if /var is a separate partition, and at least 1G on the filesystem hosting «/boot».

Btw, who are 'we'? I do not want to get rid of LVM. You seem to want to get rid of LVM. Who else is involved?

The other one that I know of is Knut Yrvin.