When laying out file systems with bsdlabel(8) or sysinstall(8),
remember that hard drives transfer data faster from the outer tracks to the inner. Thus
smaller and heavier-accessed file systems should be closer to the outside of the drive,
while larger partitions like /usr should be placed toward the
inner. It is a good idea to create partitions in a similar order to: root, swap, /var, /usr.
The size of /var reflects the intended machine usage. /var is used to hold mailboxes, log files, and printer spools.
Mailboxes and log files can grow to unexpected sizes depending on how many users exist
and how long log files are kept. Most users would never require a gigabyte, but remember
that /var/tmp must be large enough to contain packages.
The /usr partition holds much of the files required to
support the system, the ports(7) collection
(recommended) and the source code (optional). Both of which are optional at install time.
At least 2 gigabytes would be recommended for this partition.
When selecting partition sizes, keep the space requirements in mind. Running out of
space in one partition while barely using another can be a hassle.
Note: Some users have found that sysinstall(8)'s Auto-defaults partition sizer will sometimes select smaller than
adequate /var and / partitions.
Partition wisely and generously.
As a rule of thumb, the swap partition should be about double the size of system
memory (RAM). For example, if the machine has 128 megabytes of memory, the swap file
should be 256 megabytes. Systems with less memory may perform better with more swap.
Less than 256 megabytes of swap is not recommended and memory expansion should be
considered. The kernel's VM paging algorithms are tuned to perform best when the swap
partition is at least two times the size of main memory. Configuring too little swap can
lead to inefficiencies in the VM page scanning code and might create issues later if more
memory is added.
On larger systems with multiple SCSI disks (or multiple IDE disks operating on
different controllers), it is recommend that a swap is configured on each drive (up to
four drives). The swap partitions should be approximately the same size. The kernel can
handle arbitrary sizes but internal data structures scale to 4 times the largest swap
partition. Keeping the swap partitions near the same size will allow the kernel to
optimally stripe swap space across disks. Large swap sizes are fine, even if swap is not
used much. It might be easier to recover from a runaway program before being forced to
reboot.
Several users think a single large partition will be fine, but there are several
reasons why this is a bad idea. First, each partition has different operational
characteristics and separating them allows the file system to tune accordingly. For
example, the root and /usr partitions are read-mostly, without
much writing. While a lot of reading and writing could occur in /var and /var/tmp.
By properly partitioning a system, fragmentation introduced in the smaller write heavy
partitions will not bleed over into the mostly-read partitions. Keeping the write-loaded
partitions closer to the disk's edge, will increase I/O performance in the partitions
where it occurs the most. Now while I/O performance in the larger partitions may be
needed, shifting them more toward the edge of the disk will not lead to a significant
performance improvement over moving /var to the edge. Finally,
there are safety concerns. A smaller, neater root partition which is mostly read-only has
a greater chance of surviving a bad crash.
