Full Slackware + 5.14b + cache, partition sizing recommendations


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I've finally figured out how to compile unraid 5.14b into full slackware 13.1 and now I'm ready to take on the world! Okay, maybe not the world, maybe just having a cache + OS drive combination. I've read http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3899.0. It's clear that the partition used for the cache drive needs to be the first partition and lilo needs to be installed to the root partition.

 

My main question about partition sizing. How big should the cache partition be compared to the OS partition? My current array looks like this:

 

    OS: 1.5 TB

Parity: 2 TB

Drive 1: 1.5 TB

Drive 2: 1.5 TB

Drive 3: 1.5 TB

 

I'll be using the OS drive for OS+cache.

 

Current plan is to:

/dev/sda1 1 TB cache

/dev/sda2 2 GB swap

/dev/sda3 ~450 GB for OS.

Is that too much for the OS partition? I'm planning on using a webserver, torrents, SABnzbd, Couch Potato, and Sick Beard. Can/should the data for those run in the cache partition or in the OS partition?

 

Any suggestions would be great!

 

Thanks,

Amerzel

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Do not use LILO, use GRUB. LILO will fuck with all your drives' signature partition section which will cause some fits to unRAID 5.x series thinking they are not properly configured. For posts of this, see the various 5.x beta threads around versions 6 - 9.

 

For what it's worth here's my setup on a full Slackware 13.37 64bit, and I have tons of space free for the OS. I have 8GB ram and an 8GB SWAP partition. The swap partition is nearly never used, and when it does it's at most 5 Megs.

 

Filesystem      1K-blocks       Used  Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        29530428   11642748   16387612  42% /
/dev/sda1       118282912   47586980   70695932  41% /cache
tmpfs             4088200          0    4088200   0% /dev/shm
/dev/sdb1         7835584     180864    7654720   3% /flash

#uname -a && vmstat && free && uptime
Linux reaver 3.0.8-unraid #1 SMP Mon Nov 7 18:56:00 EST 2011
x86_64 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E31270 @ 3.40GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa
1  0      0 1097320 449020 5354892    0    0    57    57    0    0  0  0 99  0

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       8176400    7079080    1097320          0     449020    5354892
-/+ buffers/cache:    1275168    6901232
Swap:      8000364          0    8000364

17:09:06 up 135 days, 20:54,  1 user,  load average: 0.02, 0.02, 0.05

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Yes, the OS, Cache, and Swap are on the same physical drive, a 160GB laptop drive as /dev/sda. I dont ever explicitly use tmpfs, but it was part of the Slackware /etc/fstab file so I kept it there. I've never seen it in use either. It might get used by programs using shared memory, perhaps XWindows type apps?

 

My /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sda3        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/sda2        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
/dev/sda1        /cache           reiserfs    defaults         1   2
#/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom       auto        noauto,owner,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0
tmpfs            /dev/shm         tmpfs       defaults         0   0
/dev/disk/by-label/UNRAID /flash  vfat        rw,noatime,nodiratime,umask=0,shortname=mixed 0   0

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to dig this back up, but this was great information, couldn't find it on the wiki :]

 

I'm going to attempt doing this to my unRAID box later this weekend, good to know it'll work with latest Slackware 13.37 instead of the 13.1 that was in the manual.

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  • 3 months later...

Hello guys, I'm having some problems with the cache drive. This is my current setup:

 

Case    HP N40L

2x 2TB    disk1 and disk2, no parity yet

unraid plus license

 

I have installed unraid+full slackware 13.37 on a OCZ 120GB ssd, the drive boots, emhttp runs fine and I can add disk1 and disk2 to the array, I partitioned the drive as follows:

 

/dev/sdd1  90GB  spac reserved for the the cache

/dev/sdd2  20GB  ext4    slack install partition

/dev/sdd3  8GB    swap

 

when I add the drive to the array the computer freezes and I have to restart it to get it back up.

 

did you had these problems when you installed slackware?

 

Thanks for your help.

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No. That problem is not related to a full slackware install, though it might be related to YOUR full slackware install.

 

Did you preclear the drive before adding to the array? When you say the computer freezes, if you're SSH'd in or on the console can you still issue commands? Have you looked at the msg and syslogs?

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry i disapear an never gave an answer, theres something with that im not doing right. When should i preclear the ssd after i have slackware installed on it? I have done this 2 times and whenever i add the cache drive to the array unraid wipes out the root partition. Thanks for your help guys!

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Sorry i disapear an never gave an answer, theres something with that im not doing right. When should i preclear the ssd after i have slackware installed on it? I have done this 2 times and whenever i add the cache drive to the array unraid wipes out the root partition. Thanks for your help guys!

 

Do NOT pre-clear a SSD. pre-clear is only for HDD.

 

The first partition must be for cache.

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Well i have the partitions set as follows:

 

/dev/sde1 96gb.  unformated partition to use as cache

/dev/sde2 20gb  Root  formated to reiserfs

/dev/sde3 8gb    swap

 

The system boots slackware 13 fine the array starts fine but tells me that i need to format the cache drive, when i select to format it wipes the whole drive including the root partition which leaves the system hanged!

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Well i have the partitions set as follows:

 

/dev/sde1 96gb.  unformated partition to use as cache

/dev/sde2 20gb  Root  formated to reiserfs

/dev/sde3 8gb    swap

 

The system boots slackware 13 fine the array starts fine but tells me that i need to format the cache drive, when i select to format it wipes the whole drive including the root partition which leaves the system hanged!

you will probably need to format it yourself.  (It can then just mount it)

 

Type

mkreiserfs /dev/sde1

to format the 1st partition.

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I guess its something with my setup. I formated it as Joe L. Suggested but whenever i start the array the web interface freezes, if i go to unmenu it shows that the array is started and the cache is mounted. But the unraid web interface doesnt respond.

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