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Which Partition Types Are Superior?

digitalmonkey2k1 writes: "I am currently planning on running an Apache web server and a small ftp on my pc. There are so many file systems that Linux can support now that I'm not certain what ones should be used for certain features. If anyone knows of a comparison list between them, somthing to give a pro/con method of deciding the best sort of configuration It would be greatly appreciated."

14 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Partition != File System by lkaos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Therefore partition type is quite different from what file system to use.

    Besides, wasn't there just a story on Linux Advanced File Systems????

    There is no reason why use shouldn't use ReiserFS. Performs just as well (for the most part) as ext2 and will improve uptime by eliminating nasty fscks in the event of a failure.

    The more interesting question probably is what kernel should you be using????

    Kudos to story posters for having so many dups today. Really keeping us on our toes huh?

    --
    int func(int a);
    func((b += 3, b));
  2. Short answer: by Matt2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful


    If you're looking to set up a small Apache and FTP for your friends, the short answer is probably: WHO CARES.

    Ext2 will be more than sufficient, and if you feel like it just download the latest Redhat (7.2) and get Ext3 default for free. It probably won't make much difference to you for this task unless you're in an area powered by thousands of gerbils on wheels who happen to get tired at the same time.

    --

    1. Re:Short answer: by ceswiedler · · Score: 4, Informative

      All data is NOT WRITTEN TWICE. RAID is a solution for replicating data. Journalling file systems replicate meta-data, which is the information ABOUT a file, such as its name and where it's stored on disk. They eliminate the need for fsck, which will not recover lost data either. Before you bash it, understand it.

  3. Get a journaled FS by chrysalis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    XFS, ReiserFS, JFS or EXT3. Get a journaled FS. The reason is that as long as your system is up and running, having a fs like ext2 is no problem. But if you ever have crashes, long fsck (that something fail) means downtime. And for production servers, this is definitely something to avoid.
    XFS and ReiserFS are the more mature fs IMHO (on Linux) . I run EXT3 on systems that were previously running EXT2, because it's easy to upgrade. But I had some troubles with EXT3 not so long ago (corrupted files during a compilation, not even after a crash) .
    ReiserFS is the best if you have a lot of small files. Both for performance and space. XFS is believed to be better for large files.
    Also, if you need performance, FS is one thing, but software is another thing. Apache is probably the slowest web server out there (although very powerful (altough less than Roxen and Caudium :)) .
    Running Zeus, Tux or (for static content) WebFS will give you a huge performance increase, even on a slow filesystem.

    --
    {{.sig}}
  4. Ext3 with standard dos-type partitions by 1010011010 · · Score: 5, Informative

    DOS-type partitions are the most common on PCs, the most expected, and the easiest to deal with.

    Ext3 is basically ext2 with journalling. It performs better than Ext2, though. In a pinch you can always mount it as ext2.

    You're not running anything exotic. Stick with the standards.

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  5. ReiserFS has distinct advantages. by dbuttric · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use it for the document root of my webservers. It offers faster access to the files themselves, while having very good fault tolerance.

    I serve very few dynamic documents - I'm getting alot of milage out of small machines. My sites have a deep directory structure, with fairly few files in each. ReiserFS shines for this layout.

    I tested several different FS for this application, ReiserFS won for me.

    Oh yeah, the other benefit is the relative ease of install and upgrade.

  6. My preferred partition type is... by mzito · · Score: 5, Funny

    83! It's easy to remember, simple, and comes default in 100% of linux distributions.

    Of course, there are those who are type 82 bigots. I can see how that's important, but with RAM prices so low these days....

    Matt

    --
    me@mzi.to
  7. ACLs on ext2, ext3, xfs by trackzero · · Score: 5, Informative
    I administer a network of about 25 linux boxen used largely for file service. For such work, I must say that with 9,000 users and about 30 groups, I consisder ACLs a necessity. I've been using the "Bestbits" ext2 acl patch with great luck (acl.bestbits.at). I've heard that a cousin to this patch can be applied to ext3, but I haven't tried it yet. I'm drawn to XFS for its maturity, durability, and of course its ACL support.

    The XFS command line utilities seem to be less effective than the Bestbits patches & utils, and the Samba 2.2.1a support seems to be a bit off with its handling of recursive descents and inheritance. To be fair on both counts, I'm still learning the file system, and the problems could be all mine.

    I'd thought about ReiserFS, but I really need those ACLs.

    Just some thoughts. Any errors are all mine. Please feel free to correct. I have no pride.

    --
    "Laugh Quietly- tomorrow is your turn to be rong."
  8. ReiserFS is better. by chicobaud · · Score: 5, Informative

    This FS doesn't fragment file around partition space, major advantage if you install in hardware RAID. Fragmentation is a big problem for performance, so if it doesn't happen you have a good access time. I use ReiserFS on SuSE and Mandrake, it is fast/good, doesn't loose data and I tried the journaling by shutdonw bad my isntallation many times before a fresh install, never lost a single file, this amazed me since I dilike the fschk everytime maximal mount count and a forced unmounted FS situation happened.
    Try ReiserFS. Too bad RedHat 7.2 decide not to support ReiserFS, I will give up - with regreat - on RedHat.

  9. Let's not confuse FS and Partition type by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The question asked for information about partitition schema, not file systems. And yet almost every post so far has been about file systems.

    IMHO, if you want a superior partition scheme, you should not use the linux system, which is identical in structure to the Microsoft DOS system. Instead, read about the BSD partition (and slice) system. See section 2.5.2 of the (new) 2d edition handbook:

    http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/h andbook/install-steps.html

    In BSD, the Microsoft-Linux concept of partitions is preserved as "slices" that exist to hold collections of files systems. (In FreeBSD, you can man hier(8) to read more about this. Unlike linux, where every vendor puts things in /opt, /etc/, /usr/local, and so on, the BSD system is very rigid--there's even a man page about where things belong.)

    Another option in BSD is the use of what are called "dangerously dedicated" system where the entire disk becomes one slides, with no other partition. Read more about this in the handbook. There's even information about working with different flavors of partition types.

    I suppose to give 'equal time' we should give a link to the Microsoft/Linux partition scheme, so here one is:

    http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7-Man ual/ref-guide/ch-partitions.html

    FYI-- here's some news you won't see on /.'s main page: The FreeBSD handbook (first link above) was just (48 hours ago) released in its second edition. This is a significant documentation change, and all the daemons are celebrating. Join us!

    1. Re:Let's not confuse FS and Partition type by dstone · · Score: 5, Funny

      Who comes up with the headline--the poster, or Hemos?

      C) Cowboy Neal

  10. Doesn't matter. by Man+of+E · · Score: 5, Informative
    Look, if you're just running a small apache and ftp server on your pc, it probably doesn't make much of a difference. You're probably going to take heavier performance hits from all the other stuff that's running than because your file system, kernel, partition, etc is not optimal. You only need to worry about this if you're building a dedicated system that's going to take lots of hits.

    I'm running apache and ftp right now, and average traffic is about 20 hits per day. At this order of magnitude, or anywhere near it, it really doesn't matter.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une sig
  11. Some Important Tips to Remember by selectspec · · Score: 4, Funny
    Ok, here are some tips regarding filesystems.

    • Make sure that whatever filesystem you choose runs with 256 colors.
    • Make sure that you pick a filesystem that has SCSI (or you could hold out for Infiniband).
    • Don't use a floppy drive in conjunction with your hard drives (it slows them down.
    • Don't be afraid to run your web server off of swap space only.
    • Mauve servers are faster than gray, but those new black cases are also pretty good.
    • Be sure that you partition your buffer cache correctly
    • Don't forget to check the syslog for any journal entries that XFS, ext3 or Rieser makes.
    • NFS and SMB are the best filesystems because they minimize your local disk space needs and they are the most reliable and efficient.
    • If you're running linux alway use NTFS
    • Put all of your files in just one directory (/) for performance increases.
    --

    Someone you trust is one of us.

  12. A crypto filesystem? by magi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is there any stable crypto filesystem for Linux?

    I found a "CFS", but the version was just for kernel 2.2.x. I didn't find a 2.4 port.

    SuSE 7.3 ads say it has a "CryptoFS". Does it work well? Where can I get it, if I don't want to install SuSE?

    An easy-to-use crypto fs would be enormously important especially for laptops in corporate world. I think W2k or XP have some kind of encryption options, and if Linux can't provide a good alternative, it may be a problem in more paranoid companies.

    Of normal filesystems, I've found ReiserFS stable on my two machines during my 6 months of use. I converted from ext2 after it corrupted mysteriously. Unfortunately, RH still doesn't support ReiserFS, even optionally, which I think is really silly. SuSE and Mandrake do.