2.7. Installation Destination
Before Turbolinux 10 Server can be installed, the Turbolinux installer must prepare your hard disk. Linux generally requires a minimum of two hard disk partitions. At the Install Destination screen (Figure 2.8), choose whether to use the drive partitioning tools to partition manually, to allow Turbolinux to partition your drive automatically, or to prepare a loopback partition on your existing Windows FAT32 filesystem.
2.7.1. Automatic Partitioning
Choose automatic partitioning if you would like to use the ext3 file system and have no data on the drive that you wish to prepare. Turbolinux will partition the drive for optimum use based on your hardware and server needs.
 | The Automatic Partitioning option deletes all existing Linux-related data (partitions) from your drive. |
If you choose the Automatic Partitioning option, your next step is to configure the boot loader -- the software used to start Turbolinux on your computer. Skip to Section 2.8.
2.7.2. TFDisk
TFDisk is a graphical partition management tool. You should use TFDisk if you want to use a file system other than the Linux standard such as ReiserFS or MSDOS VFAT, or if you wish to make use of Linux software RAID.
To partition your disk with TFDisk, first you create boot (/boot) and root (/) partitions, and then create a swap partition. The instructions in this section assume that you are installing on a drive that has not been previously partitioned.
2.7.2.1. To create a boot partition using TFDisk
Click on the bar labeled DOS Free.
Click on the button labeled Add a Partition.
From the menu labeled Partition Type, select Linux ext3.
Specify "/boot" as the mount point.
Enter the size of the boot partition to be created (in megabytes).
Click the "OK" button to return to the main TFDisk window
2.7.2.2. To create a root partition using TFDisk
Click on the bar labeled DOS Free.
Click the button labeled Add a Partition.
From the menu labeled Partition Type, select Linux ext3.
Specify "/" as the mount point.
Enter the size of the root partition to be created (in megabytes).
Click the "OK" button to return to the main TFDisk window.
2.7.2.3. To create a swap partition using TFDisk
Click on the bar labeled DOS Free.
Click the button labeled Add Partition.
From the menu labeled Partition Type, select Linux Swap. The mount point will be locked as Swap.
Enter the size of the swap partition (in megabytes).
The swap partition is used by the system in the event of a system crash to store the Linux Kernel Crash Dump (the LKCD -- the contents of main memory). You should therefore create a swap partition of size at least as large as the amount of main memory installed in your system.
Click the "OK" button to return to the main TFDisk window.
Click the "Next" button to proceed to configuring the boot loader.
2.7.3. Loopback installation
Turbolinux 10 Server allows you to install into a file within an existing MSDOS FAT32 partition.
From the Install Destination screen, select the Loopback installation radio button and click the "Next" button.
Text-based users should select the Loopback installation from the list box and select OK to continue.
If you have a valid MSDOS FAT32 partition, you will be given the option of selecting the device to use and the size of the partition files to create for your Turbolinux 10 Server installation.
Your MSDOS FAT32 partition will not allow creation of a Linux partition file greater than 2 GB in size. This may limit the installation types you may choose.
Set your root partition size.
GUI-based users can click on the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the size of their Linux installation file. Text-based users should select the value in the text field and enter the desired size (in megabytes).
Set your swap partition size.
GUI-based users can click on the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the size of their swap file. Text-based users should select the value in the text field and enter the desired size in megabytes.
Click the "Next" button to continue the installation process.
You will need to create a boot disk when using the Loopback installation option. Without this disk, you will not be able to properly boot your Turbolinux 10 Server system.
2.7.4. Advanced Partitioning tools
Advanced users may use either fdisk or parted to partition their disk drives. These tools are accessed from the TFDisk partitioning screen. Select a device by clicking on the device shown in blue (e.g /dev/sda). This will activate the fdisk and parted buttons which can then be clicked on to launch the given tool in a console window.
2.7.4.1. fdisk
Fdisk is a text-based partition management tool. Turbolinux recommends the use of fdisk only to those who are already familiar with it. Fdisk has a text-based interface and provides no online instructions. It does, however, allow more flexibility with regard to disk layout than does TFDisk.
For users of the graphical installer, basic instructions for configuring a disk with fdisk can be found in the [F1] online help file.
Once you write your partition information using fdisk, you should return to TFDisk to specify mount points.
2.7.4.2. parted
You may also use parted, another text-based partition management tool. Use of parted is recommended only for expert users who are already familiar with it. Parted provides little online help. You can view command-based help by entering "help" at the parted prompt.
If you have selected parted but would prefer to use TFdisk instead, enter quit at the parted prompt and return to the directions under Section 2.7.2.
2.7.5. Selecting partitions to format
Once disk partitioning is complete, a dialog box will appear prompting the selection of partitions to be formatted at package installation time.
By default, all non-swap partitions are selected. You may also choose to have your disks checked for bad blocks by placing a check mark in the box labeled "Check for bad blocks while formatting?" Because bad block checking can greatly increase the amount of time required to complete formatting of large disks, bad block checking is only recommended for older disks.
| Please be careful not to format existing Windows partitions. The installer automatically detects existing Windows VFAT and NTFS partitions and creates mount points for them such as "/mnt/windows0" and "/mnt/winnt0". After installation, you may access Windows data from these directories. Please note that currently you can only access these Windows partitions as the root user and that NTFS partitions cannot be written to (i.e., they are mounted read-only). |