# Boot problem after installation



## krilen (Jul 27, 2010)

Hi.

Have been using Linux for a while now but I want to go back to FreeBSD.

Having problem when I create my own "partions" in FreeBSD disklabel (in FreeBSD 8.1). If I use the auto function in disklabel everthing works fine. But When I create my own "partions" the system will not boot after the installation is complete.

I get doing the startup

Loader variables:

```
vfs.root.mountfrom=
vfs.root.mountfrom.options=
```

Manual root filesystem specification:

```
<fstype>:<device>....
...
...
mountroot>
```

I would like to create these partions for my server:


```
ad4s1a     /      512MB
ad4s1b     swap   8G
ad4s1d     /root  20GB
ad4s1e     /home  50GB
ad4s1f     /etc   30GB
ad4s1g     /usr   50GB
ad4s1h     /var   75GB
```
Can anyone see what I am doing wrong, have I been using Linux to much?

Thanks in advanced
/Krister


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## Beastie (Jul 27, 2010)

krilen said:
			
		

> ```
> ad4s1a     /      512MB
> ad4s1b     swap   8G
> [b]ad4s1d     /root  20GB[/b]
> ...


Never ever separate /root and /etc. They should both be part of partition a. Don't forget fstab is stored in /etc.
And really, 50GB? They shouldn't take more than a few MB.

Also it would be good to create a separate /tmp.


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## SirDice (Jul 27, 2010)

30GB for /etc/?!?!? 

What the hell are you planning on storing there?


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## krilen (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks for the quick replay.

The problem would go away if I removed /root and /etc partions and let the be apart of /.

I had a HD with 250 MB and I wanted every partion to have enjoy of that so I spaced everything out. This is only a testmachine.

I will reinstall with these partions


```
ad4s1a / 512MB
ad4s1b swap 8G
ad4s1d /home 80GB
ad4s1e /tmp 20GB
ad4s1f /usr 50GB
ad4s1g /var 75GB
```

Hopefully everyting will work.

Thanks for the help.

/Krister


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## sk8harddiefast (Jul 27, 2010)

> ```
> ad4s1a / 512MB
> ```


Give 2-3 giga to be more sure.


> ```
> ad4s1f /usr 50GB
> ```


Also here you probably should give more space. ~75 giga should be fine. Depends on how many packages you will install.


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## jem (Jul 27, 2010)

krilen said:
			
		

> ```
> ad4s1a / 512MB
> ad4s1b swap 8G
> ad4s1d /home 80GB
> ...



A few points.

Make / bigger.  512MB isn't even big enough to hold two copies of the kernel and modules (about 260MB in 8.1-RELEASE).  When you build a custom kernel, you won't have enough space to install it.

/tmp is huge!  What do you expect to create 20GB of temporary files?  If you have a decent amount of RAM, you might consider using tmpmfs or tmpfs for /tmp instead.

/var is also huge, but depending on what you're using the system for, this might be necessary.  For example, a mail server that keeps its queue under /var somewhere.  However, a 75GB mail queue is ISP mail server territory.  Think about what your server is going to do and consider making /var smaller.

/usr is quite big too, but if you install a lot of packages, it might be necessary.

I usually make /home the last partition on the disk, using the remainder of space.  I also use /home for the data for various services too, for example when Apache is installed and runs as the 'www' user, I actually create a /home/www  directory and put all the content under there instead of leaving it under /usr/local/www.

My partitions usually looked something like this (before I switched to ZFS):


```
ada0p2  swap    (2x physical RAM)
ada0p3  /       1GB
ada0p4  /var    1GB
ada0p5  /usr    10-20GB
ada0p6  /home   remainder of disk

(/tmp on tmpfs)
```
This is just me though.  Opinions will vary wildly.


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## Beastie (Jul 27, 2010)

jem said:
			
		

> 512MB isn't even big enough to hold two copies of the kernel and modules (about 260MB in 8.1-RELEASE).


Is this for the actual /boot/kernel directory?
And this includes debugging symbols, right? Because in 8.0, the kernel and its modules are just below 40MB!


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## jem (Jul 27, 2010)

Beastie said:
			
		

> Is this for the actual /boot/kernel directory?
> And this includes debugging symbols, right? Because in 8.0, the kernel and its modules are just below 40MB!



Yes, I was looking at disk usage of all the contents of /boot/kernel.


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