[gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[Florian Philipp]

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Hi!

I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on "traditional" 
partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't want to 
use initrd and still be able to boot.

I think it's safe to move /home but what do I do with /var, /usr, /tmp 
and /opt?

Thanks in advance!

Florian Philipp


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Re: [gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

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On Saturday 16 June 2007, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de> wrote 
about '[gentoo-user] lvm without initrd':
> I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on "traditional"
> partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't want
> to use initrd and still be able to boot.

Anything 'cept / (and /boot of course) can live on LVM without the need for 
an initrd.  Of course, /lib and /etc can't be on separate block devices 
from /.

-- 
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =. 
bss03@volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-' 
http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/     

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Re: [gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[Dirk Heinrichs]

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Am Samstag, 16. Juni 2007 schrieb Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.:
> On Saturday 16 June 2007, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de> wrote
>
> about '[gentoo-user] lvm without initrd':
> > I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on "traditional"
> > partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't want
> > to use initrd and still be able to boot.
>
> Anything 'cept / (and /boot of course) can live on LVM without the need for
> an initrd.

Yep, and even swap can be a logical volume. So here is an example partition 
layout:

[hs]da1: /boot,64M,ext2 (a little bit larger than needed, 32M would also be 
sufficient.)
[hs]da2: /,256M,choose whatever fs you prefer
[hs]da3: LVM,everything else

Make sure to create LVs for at least /opt, /var, /usr. Regarding /home, I 
prefer one LV per user, mounted via automounter. I also add three more LVs 
for the Gentoo related stuff, also mounted via automounter:

/gentoo/overlays  (portage tree and other overlays, ~1G)
/gentoo/distfiles (~2G)
/gentoo/build (size depends, mine is currently ~5G to satisfy openoffice 
builds).

HTH...

	Dirk

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Re: [gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[Albert Hopkins]

On Sat, 2007-06-16 at 14:45 +0200, Florian Philipp wrote:
> I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on
> "traditional" 
> partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't
> want to 
> use initrd and still be able to boot.

Pretty much what everyone else has said.  The only reason you *need* an
initrd is to be able to mount the root partition.  Since usually the
init process starts the device mapper, finds your LVM volumes and sets
device nodes, etc, and init depends on / being mounted.  You have the
chicken and egg problem.  The initrd solves that problem by creating an
initial /, assembling the LVM volumes, and then mounting the "real" /.

Also you should make sure that /boot is either on / or on it's own
non-LVM partition as most boot loaders don't understand LVM either
(though I hear GRUB 2 will).

I've used setups with a 4GB non-LVM root and everything else on LVM
though YMMV.  Refer to the FHS for what should be contained in the root
fs.

--
Albert W. Hopkins

-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

[gentoo-user] Re: lvm without initrd

[Alexander Skwar]

· Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de>:

> Hi!
> 
> I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on "traditional" 
> partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't want to 
> use initrd and still be able to boot.

If you don't want to use an initrd, / needs to stay "traditional".
And as Grub cannot use LVM either, /boot also needs to stay traditional.

>From the top level directories, thus the following need to stay
traditional/cannot be moved to LVM:

/
/boot
/bin
/lib
/sbin
/dev
/proc


> I think it's safe to move /home but what do I do with /var, /usr, /tmp 
> and /opt?

They can all be on LVM.

Alexander Skwar
-- 
"You do not beg the sun for mercy."

  -- Maud'dib's Travail from The Stilgar Commentary


-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: lvm without initrd

[Dirk Heinrichs]

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Am Samstag, 16. Juni 2007 schrieb Alexander Skwar:

> > I think it's safe to move /home but what do I do with /var, /usr, /tmp
> > and /opt?
>
> They can all be on LVM.

Yep. But if you have enough RAM, you could also put /tmp on tmpfs.

Bye...

	Dirk


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Re: [gentoo-user] lvm without initrd

[Florian Philipp]

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Am Samstag 16 Juni 2007 14:45 schrieb Florian Philipp:
> Hi!
>
> I'd like to know which parts of my system need to stay on "traditional"
> partitions and which directories can be moved to an lvm if I don't want to
> use initrd and still be able to boot.
>
> I think it's safe to move /home but what do I do with /var, /usr, /tmp
> and /opt?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Florian Philipp

Thanks everyone for your answers!


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