New to FreeBSD - Some questions

[Polytropon]

On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:14:54 +0200 (CEST), Wojciech Puchar wrote:
> > the experimental development branch -HEAD, it _might_ happen that
> > the system doesn't even compile, but updated 30 minutes after
> > that "accident", it runs fine again. :-)
> >
> And finally unless doing tests or using private not-really-important 
> computer, don't just install newest FreeBSD because it's out.
> 
> I - and lot of others - still use 8.* for production while 9.* is out 
> already for some time.

For home desktops, usually -STABLE is a good solution. Server
maintainers tend to use -RELEASE-pX (which also makes binary
updates easier).



> >> q) I would assume UFS with J+SU is "fast enough" for a laptop?
> >
> > I think so. For a laptop, you _might_ consider adding encryption.
> > Just in case. You never know.
> 
> for a server - you MUST do this :)

It's worth mentioning that it's not good practice to have a
keyfile-based decryption which is "unlocked" by a USB stick
permanently sticking in the server. Security is nearly zero
in such a constellation. Passphrase-based decryption is good
as long as you have physical access to the server and only
you (and maybe those you trust) have a secure (!!!) password
which needs to be entered manually at system startup to "unlock"
the /home drive or partition.



> >> q) The second laptop has an SSD, would UFS with/without J and
> >> with/without SU or ZFS make more sense for it?
> >
> > There are several parameters that you can tweak (see "man tunefs"),
> > I would suggest a single partition spanning the whole SSD, and
> > journaling would not be contraproductive.
> 
> s/would not/would/
> i assume this as mistake. do not journal on SSD. it increases amount of 
> writes, and fsck is quick anyway.

Good you spotted it - of course there is no need for journaling in
this case (too much writes, no real benefit).





-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...