resize /var

[Ted Potter]

On Mon, 2005-09-19 at 13:30 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Ted Potter wrote:
> > Greetings,
> > 
> > 
> > a new IBM Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (v.3 Update 3) X series machine
> > has the following partitions 
> > 
> > /dev/sda3   264 gig  /root
> > /dev/sda2     72 megs /boot
> > /dev/sda6   243 Megs /var
> > 
> > we ran out of space on /var running up2date. From what I understand I
> > think the /var partition is too small.
> > 
> > My questions are
> > 
> > 1. Is it correct to state the /var partition is to small and we should
> > have something like 10 - 40 gigs
> 
> Well, it rather depends on what you're doing.  Remember that the vast
> number of logs and such go into /var/log.  up2date and yum both keep
> their downloads there (/var/spool/up2date or /var/cache/yum) and mail
> usually ends up in /var/mail.
> 
> Again, it depends on what you're doing.  As a rule, I tend to make /var
> at least 4GB.  I'd say 2.5 to 5% of your total disk is adequate.  In
> your case that'd be 6.5 to 13GB.
> 
> > 2. How do I or can I resize the /var partition.
> 
> It's not easy to do.  Once you've partitioned the drive, you really
> can't change it unless you used LVM to set it up or really know what
> you're doing with a tool such as one of the parted variants (gparted,
> parted, etc.).
> 
> If you have a later version of Partition Magic or Partition Commander,
> those can bugger things for you.  If you don't, it might make more sense
> to reinstall and partition things a bit better.  With your disk, I'd do
> something like:
> 
> 	/ (root)	512MB-1GB
> 	/boot		64-128MB
> 	/var		6.5-13GB
> 	swap		twice your RAM size
> 	/usr		rest of disk
> 
> However, to get you over the hump you could tell up2date to use a
> directory in /usr to store its stuff.  For example,
> 
> 	# mkdir /usr/up2date-stuff
> 	# up2date --tmpdir=/usr/up2date-stuff
> 
> You can also reconfigure up2date to use that /usr/up2date-stuff
> directory in the future without having to specify it on the command
> line.  Use "up2date --configure", go to the second tab
> ("Retrieval/Installation") and change the "package store directory".
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> - VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
> -                                                                    -
> -        Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.        -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 


Thanks for the info, I suggested a reinstall since it is a new box with
nothing on it. Sadly it was a preinstall from IBM and I am sure getting
them to do it will be something. At least we can all sing the company
song

"IBM, you BM. We ALL BM for IBM"


:-)








> 
-- 
Ted Potter <tpotter at techmarin.com>
TechMarin