Partitioning "Lamp" server

[Stephen Goldman]

Hello Jerry,
    There is a total of six drives :
        With the raid card I was planning on creating two partitions-

        Raid one for the OS
        Raid five for the data & db

        The why -can be subjective-
        I was under the impression of performance gains and redundancy with RAID 5 on the db partition. may be wrong..

        Please confirm that Mysql can be configured to live on the /dev/sdb1

Thanks,
Stephen



I have no issues with your partitioning scheme, but a few questions. Why
have /dev/sda RAID 1 and /dev/sdb RAID 5? I thought that a single RAID
volume required 2 separate physical volumes volumes.
Secondly, I would probably want to use LVM to give you greater
flexibility so you can resize and move things around.



On 10/31/2009 07:01 AM, Stephen Goldman wrote:

> Hello Blu,
>     Request insight on partitioning a new "LAMP" server with two partitions.
>     Seeking input from others more experienced than me.. thanks,  
>     Are there any posted guidelines for best performance. Wish to provide best product
>    
>     The device is a brand new Dell server with:
>     /dev/sda    raid one 160 G
>     /dev/sdb    raid five 270G
>
>     32 G physical ram
>     RHEL 5.3
>
>     My plan was to partition /dev/sda as follows:
>
>     /            25  G
>     /            20  G swap
>     / var       25 G
>     /tmp      20  G
>     /home   remainder
>
>     /dev/sdb
>
>     /data    =  270 G
>
>     I am provisioning the machine for others who will configure ,Apache and Mysql
>
>
>     I suggested they redirect the Apache root folders and Mysql db to run on /dev/sdb.
>     The researcher who is creating the site states he has only worked with both services when configured inside /var.
>     Limited experience.
>
>     I know the Apache can be redirected .. but no sure of how the redirect Mysql   to live on       /dev/sdb --
>    
>     Questions:
>     Does the partitioning scheme make sense ..
>     Is there performance gains running the services on the partition /dev/sdb
>     Is it difficult to redirect the services on /dev/sdb ?
>     Is it easier to place /var  on  /dev/sdb  size it to the whole partition?
>    
>     /home does not need to be  70 G .. but the space  is there //
>
>     Thanks for you input,
>

Stephen Goldman
Systems Administrator
Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
31 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
sgoldman@..., [phone]
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[Jerry Feldman-2]

I cannot be definitive, but most Linux applications can reside nearly
anywhere. When you talk about Apache and MySQL, there are components,
the config files are normally in /etc, the binaries are usually either
in /usr/bin or /usr/sbin. The data components can be just about anywhere
based on how you set up the config files:
For example in an older Apache config:
ServerRoot "/etc/httpd"
PidFile "/var/run/httpd.pid"
DocumentRoot "/var/www/html"
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/cgi-bin/"

Essenttially, you can put most things where you want. However,
configuration files are generally under /etc on most Unix and Linux
systems (except possibly on optware systems). Pids are generally stored
under /var/run.

You can place your document root on /Data/foo/bar and your scripts in
/home/steve/scripts. But, I would otherwise respect standard
conventions. For instance, you might want to preserve the /var/www
convention, but set up www as a symlink to Data/foo/bar, or better
/Data/foo/www. Or, you can mount /Data/foo/bar under /var/www.

Following conventions is usually a good thing in a non-home environment
since there may be others who are working with you or may follow you and
expect things in certain places. I don't know the setup for mysql, but
I'm sure you can place the various databases anywhere you want to.
Again, keeping conventions in mind.




On 10/31/2009 09:26 AM, Stephen Goldman wrote:

> Hello Jerry,
>     There is a total of six drives :
>         With the raid card I was planning on creating two partitions-
>  
>         Raid one for the OS
>         Raid five for the data & db
>  
>         The why -can be subjective-
>         I was under the impression of performance gains and redundancy
> with RAID 5 on the db partition. may be wrong..
>  
>         Please confirm that Mysql can be configured to live on the
> /dev/sdb1
>  
> Thanks,
> Stephen
>  
>  
>  
> I have no issues with your partitioning scheme, but a few questions. Why
> have /dev/sda RAID 1 and /dev/sdb RAID 5? I thought that a single RAID
> volume required 2 separate physical volumes volumes.
> Secondly, I would probably want to use LVM to give you greater
> flexibility so you can resize and move things around.
>  
>  
>  
> On 10/31/2009 07:01 AM, Stephen Goldman wrote:
> > Hello Blu,
> >     Request insight on partitioning a new "LAMP" server with two
> partitions.
> >     Seeking input from others more experienced than me.. thanks,  
> >     Are there any posted guidelines for best performance. Wish to
> provide best product
> >  
> >     The device is a brand new Dell server with:
> >     /dev/sda    raid one 160 G
> >     /dev/sdb    raid five 270G
> >
> >     32 G physical ram
> >     RHEL 5.3
> >
> >     My plan was to partition /dev/sda as follows:
> >
> >     /            25  G
> >     /            20  G swap
> >     / var       25 G
> >     /tmp      20  G
> >     /home   remainder
> >
> >     /dev/sdb
> >
> >     /data    =  270 G
> >
> >     I am provisioning the machine for others who will configure
> ,Apache and Mysql
> >
> >
> >     I suggested they redirect the Apache root folders and Mysql db
> to run on /dev/sdb.
> >     The researcher who is creating the site states he has only
> worked with both services when configured inside /var.
> >     Limited experience.
> >
> >     I know the Apache can be redirected .. but no sure of how the
> redirect Mysql   to live on       /dev/sdb --
> >    
> >     Questions:
> >     Does the partitioning scheme make sense ..
> >     Is there performance gains running the services on the partition
> /dev/sdb
> >     Is it difficult to redirect the services on /dev/sdb ?
> >     Is it easier to place /var  on  /dev/sdb  size it to the whole
> partition?
> >    
> >     /home does not need to be  70 G .. but the space  is there //
> >

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf@...>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846



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[Dan Ritter-2]

On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 09:26:31AM -0400, Stephen Goldman wrote:
> Hello Jerry,
>     There is a total of six drives :
>         With the raid card I was planning on creating two partitions-
>
>         Raid one for the OS
>         Raid five for the data & db
>
>         The why -can be subjective-
>         I was under the impression of performance gains and redundancy with RAID 5 on the db partition. may be wrong..

http://www.baarf.com/

>         Please confirm that Mysql can be configured to live on the /dev/sdb1

You can have anything you want at Linus's restaurant. Except for
Linus.

You need to read
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/installing.html

and

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-install-db.html

and probably the rest of the reference manual.

-dsr-



--
http://tao.merseine.nu/~dsr/eula.html is hereby incorporated by reference.
You can't defend freedom by getting rid of it.
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[jay-118]

The raid configuration us use will depend upon what you top priorities are.  If performance is the primary goal, I would recomend a 2 drive raid 1 for your server as you mentioned, but use the remaining 4 drives in a raid 1+0 ( 2 mirrors of 2 drives that are stripped).  This done correctly will give you maximum read performance, on the data drives.

If your looking to maximize up time, I would run all 6 drives in a raid 6.  With a raid 5 or mirror bad sectors (which often are not discovered till its to late)  or a drive failure durring rebuilding will mean having to restore from backups.

Overall your solution will give a good  balance of reliability, speed, and drive space.  Provided you have a fast means of restoring from a backup, in the event something goes wrong durring a rebuild.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

-----Original Message-----
From: "Stephen Goldman" <sgoldman@...>
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:26:31
To: <discuss@...>
Subject: Partitioning "Lamp" server

Hello Jerry,
    There is a total of six drives :
        With the raid card I was planning on creating two partitions-

        Raid one for the OS
        Raid five for the data & db

        The why -can be subjective-
        I was under the impression of performance gains and redundancy with RAID 5 on the db partition. may be wrong..

        Please confirm that Mysql can be configured to live on the /dev/sdb1

Thanks,
Stephen



I have no issues with your partitioning scheme, but a few questions. Why
have /dev/sda RAID 1 and /dev/sdb RAID 5? I thought that a single RAID
volume required 2 separate physical volumes volumes.
Secondly, I would probably want to use LVM to give you greater
flexibility so you can resize and move things around.



On 10/31/2009 07:01 AM, Stephen Goldman wrote:

> Hello Blu,
>     Request insight on partitioning a new "LAMP" server with two partitions.
>     Seeking input from others more experienced than me.. thanks,  
>     Are there any posted guidelines for best performance. Wish to provide best product
>    
>     The device is a brand new Dell server with:
>     /dev/sda    raid one 160 G
>     /dev/sdb    raid five 270G
>
>     32 G physical ram
>     RHEL 5.3
>
>     My plan was to partition /dev/sda as follows:
>
>     /            25  G
>     /            20  G swap
>     / var       25 G
>     /tmp      20  G
>     /home   remainder
>
>     /dev/sdb
>
>     /data    =  270 G
>
>     I am provisioning the machine for others who will configure ,Apache and Mysql
>
>
>     I suggested they redirect the Apache root folders and Mysql db to run on /dev/sdb.
>     The researcher who is creating the site states he has only worked with both services when configured inside /var.
>     Limited experience.
>
>     I know the Apache can be redirected .. but no sure of how the redirect Mysql   to live on       /dev/sdb --
>    
>     Questions:
>     Does the partitioning scheme make sense ..
>     Is there performance gains running the services on the partition /dev/sdb
>     Is it difficult to redirect the services on /dev/sdb ?
>     Is it easier to place /var  on  /dev/sdb  size it to the whole partition?
>    
>     /home does not need to be  70 G .. but the space  is there //
>
>     Thanks for you input,
>

Stephen Goldman
Systems Administrator
Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
31 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
sgoldman@..., [phone]
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss@...
http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


_______________________________________________
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Discuss@...
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