Ubuntu Server Project [ hard drives ]

I have some free time on my hands and have decided to setup and document the process of getting a Ubuntu Server up and running.

The eventual goal of the project is to help other newbies who like myself grew up with Windows make the transition to Linux. The format is going to be a receive approach with a straight to the point emphasis on getting stuff done.

For myself this is a journey into the unknown but with the expertise of this forum, research and ubuntu forums I hope to achieve my dream of creating a hub of updated information which cuts out the jargon / waffle and eases people who are interested in learning more about Linux but are put off.

All my configuration will take place virtually I will be using initially two small virtual hard disks 10 Gig each in size.

First lessons I hope to cover are installing Ubuntu Server with a Raid1 configuration, including using Mdadm for management and configuration. Installing disk monitoring tools.

I also wish to later cover LVM but am still thinking about the best approach should I add another two virtual hard disks and set up a VG or put LVM on top of the original raid 1 configuration?

List of the following topics I will be covering eventually are

Installation partitioning raid1
Basic linux commands tricks
Package management
Text editors ( vim )
configuring networking
Installing SSH and securing
VNC install
Raid management
Monitoring tools
FTP server setup and security
Samba setup and security
Apache web server setup
Torrent server setup
Firewalls / hardening system
LVM configuration
Bash scripting introduction
Backing up rsync / tar

The above isn't in logical order but are some of the topics I myself will be looking at and documenting over the next 10 years

If you have any comments or suggestions feel free

or any topics which would make a good addition bearing In mind the target audience I am aiming for those of a Windows background.

Ubuntu Server Configuration Straight To The Point No Bulls**t edition

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Comments

chanakyajupudi

Any help required do let me know !

ally_uk

Thanks

So working with two Hard Disks let' say they are 10 Gig in size I want to setup raid during install I have a few questions

1) boot should go on a separate partition? I have heard conflicting stories about this what is best practice?

2) How do you normally layout a hard disk for Linux my usual approach is please criticize and improve

boot
/
/files [For Samba]
swap

3) How does LVM fit in all of this do I really need it? what comes first Raid or LVM configuration wise?

NightShade03

Boot should always go on a separate partition. For starters you can just run with the default disk layout when doing an initial intall and then try to figure out how Ubuntu did their default layout. There is really no "standard" when it comes to partition/drive layouts, it really depends on the scenario at hand. Your approach looks find for the moment, but to answer #3 you will eventually want to use LVM instead of straight up partitions.

If you use standard partitions you will have to start messing around with the number of blocks allocated to that partition if you ever wanted to shrink or grow the space available. Additionally, there are some situations where you will actually have to blow away the partition (and its data) in order to change the size.

LVM uses a layered physical & logical approach to partition and disk management to avoid this. You essentially have physical disks, which contain VolumeGroups, which contain LogicalVolumes. The LogicalVolumes act as your "standard partition" that you will use normally. However when you want to grow the space available, you can just extend the LogicalVolume (assuming their is available space on the disk) and you are done. You could also add a new physical disk to your server which will become instantly available to the VolGroup without having to adjust anything.

The easiest way to remember this is that all the physical disks get pooled together. VolumeGroups are the containers that logically sit ontop of your physical drives which in turn hold the smaller logical partitions (LogicalVolumes).

This can be a confusing topic at first, but just keep trying different builds and labs it will eventually click.

ally_uk

It is kind of clicking well so far I have two 10 Gig Hard Disks basically created two partitions Swap and /
I used UBUNTU Software RAID install of 12.04 LTS Server - YouTube
and took brief notes below :0

Although in this example a boot partition isn't created?

Software Raid]

2X Hard Disks
Manual Partitioning
select first had disk SDA
CREATE NEW EMPTY PARTITION TABLE
GO TO FREE SPACE
CREATE NEW PARTITION
TYPE 10% Primary, beginning disk (SWAP)( do not set bootable flag)
use as physical volume for raid
select free space
use rest of disk space
primary partition
use as physical volume for raid
select bootable flag on
Do exactly the same on SDB
oNCE SDA AND SDB Paritions match
Configure Software Raid
Create first MD Device Raid1 2 disk in the array
No Spare disks
select SDA1 SDB1
CREATE NEW MD DEVICE ADD SDA2 SDB2 IN A RAID 1
Format raid devices
Move down to RAID0 DEVICE Select #1 use as = swap area
Move down to RAID1 DEVICE select #1 use as EXT4 MOUNT AS /
FINISH WRITE CHANGES TO DISK

So that is the raid business out of the way and I have a Raid1 configuration setup and good to go now obviously afterwards I can go into the terminal and start dabbling with LVM commands and create a LVG
but the question is during the install process how do you setup LVM on top of raid? this question may be answered I have to read through this

How to Install Ubuntu Server 12.04 with Encrypted LVM on RAID1 :: IT From Scratch

I am going to keep adding resources to this thread I come across as others may find it useful

software raid tutorial Ubuntu - UBUNTU Software RAID install of 12.04 LTS Server - YouTube
LVM explanation - Managing Storage with the Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) - YouTube

Thanks for the continued help though It means alot