[aklug] Re: What should I consider before doing an install?

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011, Tim Johnson wrote:

>> How do I want to partition the drive(s)?
>
> Uses and needs vary. I'm not serving anything, so my and my wife's
> computers are essentially workstations.
>
> I partition as follows:
>
> / - 40%
> /home - 40%
> /usr/local - 20%

If you're going to do initrd and take advantage of root in LVM, etc., you'll
want a separate /boot partition. If you're going host any exposed network
services you'll want a separate /tmp partition mounted noexec, nodev.
Daemons shouldn't be able to run your system out of disk space, so /var
should be a separate partition. At the same time, misbehaving daemons
shouldn't be able to run your syslogger out of space, either, so you should
consider having a separate /var/log as well. Filesystem corruption, while
rare, can still happen, so you should have a separate /usr and/or /opt to
keep your precious config data in /etc isolated from the parts of the system
more likely to change.

Finally, given that remote shell access is often granted to users you should
consider mounting /home as nosuid, nodev, along with any other LV/partition
that doesn't need it.

Sounds like a lot, right? And it would be an unmanageable nightmare unless
you use LVM. With LVM, however, it's a cinch, and it provides a great deal
more protection from a wider array of attack vectors. If you sit down and
think of all the things that can go wrong on a server or workstation, odds
are you'll discover that you're not paranoid enough.

         --Arthur Corliss
           Live Free or Die
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Received on Wed Jun 29 10:11:55 2011