/ /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 256MB
swap /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 1050MB
disk /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2 (entire disk)
unassigned /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 10MB
/usr /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s4 2500MB
/var /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s5 2500MB
/opt /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s6 (optional, maybe 500MB)
/data /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s7 (rest of disk)
Solaris puts kernel device driver modules into the / partition, so there needs to be enough space in that partition to allow for updated device drivers, added on device drivers, and so forth. Not to mention all the system configuration files live in this partition.
The unassigned
partition is what I typically use for storing
the metadb databases that the disk mirroring/volume management software
would use. In Solaris 2.9, each copy of the database is 4MB in size.
There are reputed performance reasons for having multiple copies of the
metadb databases stored on the disk, so allocating 10 megabytes or so
in an otherwise unused partition seems like a smart move.
Some add-on operating system modules get installed into /var/sadm, as well as logs for any modules that are installed. 128MB of disk space is NOT enough. Additionally, temporary files for emergency backout processing of operating system updates are stored in /var. Installation of a large patch cluster will take over a hundred megabytes of free space in /var! Running out of space here is a bad idea. Additionally, if you have the system configured to save crash dumps, it will save the memory image to /var/crash. So, you ideally want to have the /var partition be the size of memory on the machine, plus whatever space you want in /var for your usage.
This amount of space for /usr is probably slightly overkill, except that most of the freely available software that can be downloaded wants to install into /usr/local. So, the more stuff you install, the more space you will need here. A complete installation of Solaris 2.9 is only around 1700 megabytes in size.
The space in /opt is another place where some software from Sun will get installed, and some software off the Internet will be installed. Running out of space here would not be a good idea. In particular the various software and hardware AnswerBook files are installed into /opt.
Finally, I use the /data partition as the catch-all location for locally files unique to an installation. Home directories, build trees, and so forth are typically installed here.
Back to the page of Not So Frequently Asked Questions.
Kurt J. Lidl