Installation of multiple Linux Instances

[kevin kempter]

Thanks for the info..

one question - I need top performance since I'm dealing with very  
large databases. any suggestions per virtualization?  I've tried  
vmware workstation with unacceptable performance results...




On Sep 19, 2008, at 3:27 PM, Chris Snook wrote:

> kevin kempter wrote:
>> Hi List;
>> I have a new dev server. As an independent consultant I want to  
>> maximize it's use. Some of my clients use RedHat/CentOS 64 bit,  
>> others Redhat/CentOS 32bit, some are even using Fedora and Debian.
>> Here's my thought:
>> I'd like to install each OS/version into it's own space on the  
>> disk.  I'm thinking all I have to do is install one OS (say CentOS  
>> 64bit) and partition say 20% of the disk. Then once the install is  
>> done, boot into the latest fedora disk and do the same, etc.
>> Is this correct ?
>> Later I want to add a disk array and allocate a RAID mount point  
>> that can be mounted by any of the installed Linux'es when it's  
>> active.
>> Is this do-able ? Easily ?
>> Thanks in advance...
>
> If you can virtualize, you should, because it's a lot simpler, but  
> if you can't, this is what I routinely do to solve this problem:
>
> 1)	Start with a grub-based distro first for ease of bootloader  
> configuration. Make sure it's one you have a rescue disk for in case  
> you screw something up and need to reinstall grub.
>
> 2)	Allocate a small /boot partition (200MB should be plenty) and put  
> almost all of the rest of the disk in an LVM volume group, but leave  
> a few GB free.
>
> 3)	Allocate your swap space and other shared filesystems (such as / 
> home) in the LVM volume group.  All modern (2.6 kernel) distros will  
> be able to use these. Allocate your root filesystem out of this  
> volume group as well.  10 GB should be more than enough for any  
> distro's root filesystem.
>
> 4)	When you install additional distros, allocate a small /boot  
> partition out of the free space you left when partitioning, and put  
> the rest in LVM.  Make sure to install the bootloader for the  
> additional distros to the first sector of their boot partition,  
> rather than the MBR, so it doesn't blow away the primary grub  
> installation.  This is usually an option under "advanced bootloader  
> options" or something like that.  If you accidentally blow away the  
> grub installation, you should be able to reinstall grub with the  
> rescue disk for the primary distro.
>
> 5)	Create a chainload entry in the grub.conf for the primary distro,  
> pointing to the /boot partition for the new distro, like this:
>
> title chainload RHEL5 (sda3)
> 	rootnoverify (hd0,2)
> 	chainloader +1
>
> Now, at boot time, you'll get the list of kernels installed on the  
> primary distro, and list of the other distros you can chainload.  If  
> you choose one of the other distros, it will launch that distro's  
> bootloader, and then boot it normally.
>
> This is a little bit of a pain, but it works.  I recommend using  
> virtualization when suitable, as it saves a lot of the hassle of  
> bootloader configuration. Putting most of your disk in LVM will also  
> allow you to allocate logical volumes to be virtual disks, which is  
> MUCH faster than file-backed virtual disks, so this partitioning  
> scheme works for both purposes.
>
> Make sense?
>
> -- Chris
>
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