Linux Installation
THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA
CP 211: LINUX FILE SYSTEM AND
INSTALLATION
Linux File Systems
• In order to persist data on a disk you need to
create a file system on it first. At installation
time you will be asked which type of file
system should be used to format your
configured block device before installation can
occur.
• Linux supports many file systems the most
popular being the extended (ext2,ext3,ext4)
file system family.
Linux File Systems
• Ext4 is backwardly compatible with ext3 and
ext3 and ext4 are both backwardly compatible
with ext2. Ext4 is considered an interim
solution while a more modern filesystem,
called Btrfs, is developed. The features
required from a modern filesystem include,
pooling, snapshots, checksums and integral
multi-device spanning, all of which btrfs will
deliver in due course.
Ext2 File System
• The Second Extended File System (ext2fs or
ext2), sometimes referred to as the Linux
native file system, was developed in 1993 and
became the dominant file system used on
Linux. Due to its widespread use over several
years, ext2 is regarded as a well tested and
reliable file system. It is also consequently the
best supported file system on Linux with a
range of management tools and utilities.
Ext2 File System
• The utilities are part of the e2fsprogs package available on your
Linux distribution and are often installed by default. The utilities
and tools included in the e2fsprogs package include:
– e2fsck a fsck program that checks for and corrects inconsistencies
– mke2fs used for creating ext2 file systems
– tune2fs used to modify file system parameters
– dumpe2fs which prints superblock and block group information.
– debugfs used to manually view or modify internal structures of the file
system
Ext3 File System
●
The ext3 file system is an ext2 file system with
journaling capabilities. Journaling improves
reliability and eliminates the need to check the file
system after an unclean shutdown, which results in
faster start ups. One of the advantages of having
ext3 being backwardly compatible with ext2 is that
it allow well-tested and mature file system
maintenance utilities, such as fsck and tune2fs for
monitoring, checking and repairing ext2 file systems
to also be used with ext3 without major changes.
Ext4 File System
●
The ext4 or fourth extended filesystem is a
journaling file system for Linux, developed as
the successor to ext3.
●
Ext4 has extended storage limits, Improved
timestamps, Faster file system checking,
Journal checksumming, Backward
compatibility, and other features.
XFS File System
• XFS is a high-performance journaling file system
created by Silicon Graphics, originally for their IRIX
operating system. The code was donated by Silicon
Graphics and ported to the Linux kernel. XFS has a
good reputation for speed and robustness and is
particularly good at handling large files. XFS is much
less popular than ext and consequently there are
fewer tools and utilities to monitor and maintain XFS
file systems. The XFS tools are found as part of the
xfsprogs package on most Linux distributions.
Reiserfs File System
• ReiserFS is another general-purpose, journalled file system
designed by Hans Reiser. It is particularly efficient at handling
a large number of small files. It was one of the first
journalling file systems for Linux and is often used in
situations where the drive will store a large number of small
files. Other filesystems that are not as efficient at handling
small files, end up wasting a lot of space as their minimum
block allocation often exceeds the size of the file. Reiserfs,
like the XFS system, also has a fewer number of tools and
utilities than the extended file system. Utilities for reiserfs
are found in the reiserfsprogs package and include reiserfsck.
Linux Installation
Downloading LINUX Distributions
[Link]/download/desktop
[Link]/[Link]
[Link]/get-fedora
Etc.
Download an ISO and burn to a CD/DVD or
create a bootable flash disk.
Linux File system hierarchy
Linux Installation
• A demonstration of Redhat installation.
Linux Installation
What is a Partition?
Partitioning is a means to divide a single hard
drive into many logical drives.
A partition is a contiguous set of blocks on a
drive that are treated as an independent disk.
A partition table is an index that relates
sections of the hard drive to partitions.
Linux Installation
Why have multiple partitions?
Reduce the risk of system failure in case a
partition becomes full. Runaway processes or
maniacal users can consume so much disk space
that the operating system no longer has room on
the hard drive for its bookkeeping operations.
This will lead to disaster. By segregating space,
you ensure that things other than the operating
system die when allocated disk space is
exhausted.
Encapsulate your data. Since file system
corruption is local to a partition, you stand to
lose only some of your data if an accident occurs.
Linux Installation
Partition Fields
Device: This field displays the partition's device name.
Start: This field shows the sector on your hard drive where the
partition begins.
End: This field shows the sector on your hard drive where the
partition ends.
Size: This field shows the partition's size (in MB).
Type: This field shows the partition's type (for example, ext2,
ext3, or vfat).
Mount Point: A mount point is the location within the directory
hierarchy at which a volume exists; the volume is "mounted" at
this location. This field indicates where the partition will be
mounted.
Linux Installation
Filesystem Types
ext2 — An ext2 filesystem supports standard Unix file types
(regular files, directories, symbolic links, etc). It provides the
ability to assign long file names, up to 255 characters.
Versions prior to Red Hat Linux 7.2 used ext2 filesystems by
default.
ext3 — The ext3 filesystem is based on the ext2 filesystem
and has one main advantage — journaling. Using a journaling
filesystem reduces time spent recovering a filesystem after a
crash as there is no need to fsck the filesystem.
swap — Swap partitions are used to support virtual memory.
In other words, data is written to a swap partition when
there is not enough RAM to store the data your system is
processing.
vfat — The VFAT filesystem is a Linux filesystem that is
compatible with Windows 95/NT long filenames on the FAT
filesystem.
Linux Installation
Recommended Partitioning Scheme
Unless you have a reason for doing otherwise, it is
recommended that you create the following partitions:
/boot partition – contains kernel images and grub
configuration and commands
/ partition
/home partition
Any other partition based on application (e.g /usr/local
for squid)
swap partition — swap partitions are used to support
virtual memory. In other words, data is written to a swap
partition when there is not enough RAM to store the data
your system is processing. The size of your swap partition
should be equal to twice your computer's RAM.
Linux Installation
Disk Partition
IDE Disk Partitions
/dev/hda (Primary Master Disk)
/dev/hda1 (First Primary Partition)
/dev/hda2 (Second Primary Partition)
/dev/hdb (Primary Slave Partition)
/dev/hdb1
/dev/hdc (Secondary Master/Slave Partition)
/dev/hdc1
SCSI Disk Partitions
/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2
/dev/sdb1, /dev/sdb2
/dev/sdc1, /dev/sdc2
Linux Installation
Boot Loader
In order for the BIOS to load an OS it looks for
instructions on the first sector of a hard drive.
On the first sector of the hard drive resides the master
boot record (MBR), and is where a boot loader is
initialized.
Depending on the boot loader, additional files may be
stored and read from a partition on the hard drive.
After this step the boot loader begins to start the
operating system, and is not used again until the next
boot.
References
• [Link]
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d-practice-testing-engines
• [Link]
• [Link]
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• [Link]