Need help with nesting partitions

[tobywan]

Hello all. I am building my first Linux file server, for my home network. I'm also trying to use older spare components I already own, so I won't unduly stress a tight family budget.

First, the issue:
I cannot create more than four partitions on a given drive. I believe I remember reading somewhere that drives are limited to four primary partitions, but that its possible to "nest" multiple extended partitions within a single, larger, primary partition.

What I have been unable to find so far is anything to tell me what, if any, protocol I have to follow to accomplish functional nesting. Is one partition-type or mount point better than another for the primary? Are certain mount points better or worse for use as the nested partitions? Is there a specific "nesting tree" I should be using?

Here's some specs on what I'm working with:
I have a 64-bit mobo with AMD 4800+ x64 in an Antec full-tower case, with 750 W PSU.
I used the mobo's built-in Nvidia RAID controller to create a mirror with matched pair of 300 GB SATA hdd.
Two additional mirrors are created through an SLI-PCI-IDE card: one with a pair of 250GB IDE hdd and the other with pair of 80 GB IDE hdd.
I also have a stand-alone 13.2 GB IDE that I plan to use as the /swap drive, regardless of any other partitioning decisions.
Also have a 200 GB IDE, on mobo cntrllr # 2, Mstr, with no particular purpose right now.

I originally attempted to use Ubuntu 9.10, but apparently it did not install a boot-loader, and I was unable to make any of the suggested GRUB-loader tools resolve that issue.

So I am currently using SUSE 11.2.

(If there's a better option for my needs,please shout it out. There's no better time to switch boats than while you're still docked!)

Here's what I was attempting to create:

on 12.13 GB solo hdd:
/swap... 12.13 GB

on the 74.53 GB mirror:
/boot... 4.0 GB
/root ... 10.0 GB
/usr ... 15.0 GB
/tmp ... 10.0 GB
/srv ... 15.0 GB
/var ... 10.0 GB

on the 279.46 GB mirror:
/home... 279.46 GB

on the 232.88 GB mirror:
open to suggestions... I can leave it alone for future growth, or set it up now as either /opt or ???

Of course, having no experience to draw on, I am trying to make an educated, best-guess at the sizes above. I am open to any and all suggestions of what I can do differently. The only other drives at my disposal are another pair of 80s and a pair of 40s. I was thinking of using them in the various desktops I'll be building for the individual family members to use.

I wouldn't expect the workstations to need much, since the end goal is to have everybody on roaming profiles with all of their files on the server. So all the workstations need is enough hdd space for a boot-loader.

The home network will also have one Mac OS X 10.5, one Shuttle PC with Win Vista Ult, and an old HP Pavilion ze4400 NtBk that I am thinking about using as a DNS server.

Just as an aside... three separate mirrors was not my first choice. I was originally hoping I could use Linux to set up a software RAID 5 across the 200, the two 250s, and the twin 300s. I thought I'd be able to get an 800 GB volume out of the deal. Then, hopefully, I'd be able to create additional RAID volumes with the unused portions of the 250 & 300 drives... perhaps a mirrored 50 GB and another mirrored 100 GB. I'd have then mirrored the two 80s.

Either way, I was hoping to put all partitions except /home & /swap on an 80 GB mirror. I still plan to use the 13 GB for /swap, and the largest single RAID volume for /home.

That is, of course, unless somebody out there has a better suggestion?

BTW, I have five texts on hand, purchased especially to help me through this d.i.y.-learn-as-you-go project. They are:

1. Network Professional's Library's Linux Administration, A Beginner's Guide; Fifth Edition by Wale Soyinka; McGraw Hill Osborne, pub. 2009.

2. Linux for Dummies, 8th Ed. Dee-Ann LeBlanc & Richard K. Blum; 2007.

3. Linux All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies, 3rd Ed., by Emmett Dulaney & Naba Barkakati, 2008.

4. Linux Bible, 2008 Ed., Christopher Negus, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

5. O'Reilly's Linux Pocket Guide, by Daniel J. Barrett, 2004.

While brimming with useful information, none of the texts listed above answered my partitioning questions. I also searched this site quite thoroughly, but only found one post that even mentioned nesting partitions, and then only briefly.

Something else you should know is that I am not strong on command line tools, but I am not afraid to learn... at least during the setup phases and before all of our files are on the server.

I also have to contend with my ADD, my wife, and two kids (ages 10 & 13), while doing this entire project in our family room.

8- )

Thanks, in advance, for any assistance.

[rcgreen]

The sizes of your partitions, and where you mount them, is
a decision you will have to make, based on your needs.
As to the nesting of partitions, this is easy, using whatever
partitioning tool you choose. I have always used fdisk,
but there are graphic programs too. You can create one, two
or three primary partitions, and one extended partition.
Your program will allow you to create additional logical
partitions. The logical partitions all reside within the extended
partition. The practical limit on the number of partitions is
high enough that you should be able to create as many as
you need. When you install your system, it should put you
into a partitioning program as an early part of the process.

[tobywan]

rcgreen: thanks for quick response. Unfortunately, it seems I buried my actual question under all the extraneous details: another case of TMI.

The main question is this: how do I decide which mount points get assigned to nested logical partitions within the #4 extended partition?

[devils casper]

how do I decide which mount points get assigned to nested logical partitions within the #4 extended partition?

You have to decide that yourself. You can create Extended Partition and Logical Partitions inside it using PartedMagic LiveCD. You assign mount point to each partition during installation.

Are you familiar with Linux FileSystem?

[tobywan]

'mornin', Devil's Casper! so there's no protocol that needs following? I am free to put whichever mountpoints I want on the logical partitions?

(Within reason, of course... I know I can't put /boot, and probably shouldn't put /swap, there.)

I would have thought that there might be some reason to make the extended partion a specific mount point, rather than some other.

Are you familiar with Linux FileSystem?

Familiar, yes... expert, no. I know what the various mount points are and for what each is used. Maybe my problem is that I am assuming that I need to assogn a mount point to the extended patition?

Maybe it doesn't matter which mount points are assigned to the logical partitions, because the extended partition is simply a "quirky, necessary evil" of the hardware, and does not need any mount point assigned specifically to it... only to the logical partitions within it?

Am I anywhere near the mark here?

[devils casper]

Extended Partition is just a container. It contains Logical Partitions and its not possible to assign mount point to an Extended Partition. Its like a Virtual Partition having actual Logical Partitions.

You can create /boot, SWAP or any other partition inside Extended Partition. Linux doesn't care if you are installing it in Logical or Primary Partitions.

There are 5 partitions in one of my server. /boot, SWAP, /, /home and /var partitions. 200MB is more than enough for /boot. Allocate sufficient space to /var and /home partitions.

You can create any or all partitions Logical.

[tobywan]

thanks, dev! that is the info i've been looking for. maybe i'd have found it sooner if i'd asked the right question, eh? = )