Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual page 114

102
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-767): 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK: +512M
Second, by setting the file system type (using the
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Partition type 82 represents a Linux swap partition.
5. Save your changes and exit the partitioning program. This is done in
command:
Command (m for help): w
Warning
When partitioning a new disk drive, it is vital that you are sure the disk drive you are about to partition
is the correct one. Otherwise, you may inadvertently partition a disk drive that is already in use,
resulting in lost data.
Also make sure you have decided on the best partition size. Always give this matter serious thought,
because changing it later is much more difficult than taking a bit of time now to think things through.
5.9.6.1.2. Formatting the Partition(s)
Formatting partitions under Red Hat Enterprise Linux is done using the
ever, does not actually do the work of writing the file-system-specific information onto a disk
mkfs
drive; instead it passes control to one of several other programs that actually create the file system.
This is the time to look at the
For example, look at the
a new ext3 file system. In general, the
most configurations; however here are some of the options that system administrators most commonly
change:
Setting a volume label for later use in
•
On very large hard disks, setting a lower percentage of space reserved for the super-user
•
Setting a non-standard block size and/or bytes per inode for configurations that must support either
•
very large or very small files
Checking for bad blocks before formatting
•
Once file systems have been created on all the appropriate partitions, the disk drive is properly con-
figured for use.
Next, it is always best to double-check your work by manually mounting the partition(s) and making
sure everything is in order. Once everything checks out, it is time to configure your Red Hat Enterprise
Linux system to automatically mount the new file system(s) whenever it boots.
mkfs. < fstype >
man page to see the options available to you when creating
mkfs.ext3
mkfs. < fstype >
/etc/fstab
Chapter 5. Managing Storage
command):
t
man page for the file system you have selected.
programs provide reasonable defaults for
by using the
fdisk
utility program. How-
mkfs
w