When you install Linux using the GUI utility of some Linux distributions, you can assign the / (root), /boot, /home, /usr, and /var directories to partitions and each of these partitions can be assigned a fixed amount of disk space. These partitions are commonly set up as mount points on Linux server systems.
1. Linux Commands Training Tips: A hard disk partition has a fixed size and assigning a directory to it causes a limit to be set for the maximum size of the directories and files in it.
2. This is an easy and useful method of restricting the maximum amount of program or data files that a directory, such as /home (for user data files), or /var (for system files) can contain.
In addition to the directories above, you can set up others (not just the ones off of the root) so that they are mount points for partitions. However, this is not recommended for all directories that are off of the root.
For example, when you’re using the Red Hat Linux Disk Druid partitioning utility during installation, this utility will not allow you to assign all directories that are off of the root to a partition.
You can select and assign some directories to a partition, but not others. However, when you are using some other utilities, they may not stop you from assigning these directories to their own partitions.
In addition to the directories above, you can set up others so that they are the mount points for hard disk partitions.
Some directories should not be assigned to their own partition. The files in these directories are required in the / for the system to function properly, such as during an attempt to go into rescue mode and “rescue” a system that is not booting properly.
The following directories are located off of the root and should not be set up as the mount point for a Linux partition:
* /bin, /dev, /etc, /lib, /mnt, /proc, /root and /sbin
The Linux System Administration concepts, commands and tasks covered here apply to the Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Slackware, Debian, and buntu distributions – and ALL other Linux distributions!
Tags: linux system