Partitioning an Ubuntu file/web/game server.

[Bop]

I'm planning on installing Ubuntu Server on a home server as my first foray into Linux. I plan on getting 3 HDDs: 1x1TB for the OS, game server, media AND a ftp server. Possibly a PhpBB2 server as well for my friends and I. The other 2x2TBs are purely for backup (RAID1).

I'm interested in hearing ways I can partition the first HDD for the best performance and ease of use. I will probably use a WD 1TB Green(WD10EARS). I've heard partitioning is more of an art than a science, so I'd like to see some "art". I was thinking:

100GB OS (Should I split it further for swap files and the like?)
100GB Game server files
500GB Media files
100GB FTP for friends and I
100GB FTP for only me
100GB Web server

Also are there any good tips on managing permissions/Iptables to enhance security? I don't want my friends accessing anything other than the game, ftp, and web server.

 

[ameoba]

What do you hope to achieve by partitioning the drive? Going with the default partitioning scheme of boot+swap+everything else should be good enough.

 

[Bop]

What do you hope to achieve by partitioning the drive? Going with the default partitioning scheme of boot+swap+everything else should be good enough.

I've read that many systems have root,/boot,/var, /tmp partitions for added security. I'll actually be using a SSD now for the OS and whatever space left for the gaming server partition. I plan on using part of a 1TB physical disc for the /home(data) partition so I'll at least need two partitions besides the OS ones.

 

[ameoba]

You put /boot on a separate partition to ease system recovery (and, on older machines it was separated to work around a BIOS limitation about where you can boot from.

/tmp was often placed on small fast disks for performance reasons

/var can be placed on a separate device so that you don't have to worry about it overflowing & affecting the system

placing / and /usr on separate partitions can be useful for security if you mount them read-only.

But this is overkill unless you're dealing with really high load or complex things like SAN. I'd take the easy route and just make the 1TB a single partition and symlink some things into there.

 

[slayer9019]

You put /boot on a separate partition to ease system recovery (and, on older machines it was separated to work around a BIOS limitation about where you can boot from.

/tmp was often placed on small fast disks for performance reasons

/var can be placed on a separate device so that you don't have to worry about it overflowing & affecting the system

placing / and /usr on separate partitions can be useful for security if you mount them read-only.

But this is overkill unless you're dealing with really high load or complex things like SAN. I'd take the easy route and just make the 1TB a single partition and symlink some things into there.

^^ well explained! ^^

The way I setup my multi-function servers (personal not work) is as follows:

Example Drive (1tb)

/ (root) = 500meg
/usr = 20gig
/var = 20gig
/tmp = 300meg
/home = 1gig/per user

I then use the remander as a seperate mounted partition as this keeps files in there own little directory. Withing that partition i do something like:

stuff/ftp (FTP file dump)
stuff/www (apache directory root)
stuff/content (more "stuff")

 

[Bop]

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to install Ubuntu 10.10 now but it keeps telling me it can't load files from the CD-ROM. I'm using a USB key to install it. I've tried Universal USB Installer and Unetbootin. Any idea what could be causing this?

EDIT: Found the fix: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9637343&postcount=4