filip wrote:
Slowly starting backups for the new 7.1 install. So I'd like some advise : I always have two scsi disks for a SuSE. I'm not so good in linux so one is for testing out things, the other one kept as a stable one. ( say test for 2.4.0 and stable for 2.2.18 ). On the other hand, I'd like to keep disks with full capabilities ( still having the /boot on each disk in case one crashes ); My double question could +/- be resumed in : should I have one boot partition for the two disks or make symlinks to keep the 2 /boot partitions. There is enough space disk on both ( 18 GB ).
Now I do the same with 2 /boot partitions. The only thing I do not quite understand is how lilo is acting in this case. So I have : sdb1 /boot ext2 sdd1 /boot ext2 sdb2 / rfs sdd2 / rfs sdb3 /usr rfs sdd3 /usr rfs etc....... sdd is my test disk. When I do tests now on sdd , kernel compiling, mk_initrd I have to copy bzImage, etc.... in /boot of sdB, reboot in sdb, make lilo.conf arragements in sdb and run lilo in sdb; then reboot on sdd to see if my changes works.
In this situation what would be the best way to partition the two disks ? Or would it be better to make a symlinks from lilo.conf and lilo ( all on sdd ) to the same situated on sdb ?
I personally would keep just the one /boot partition, but if you want to keep separate boot partitons, then this may be workable. This may not work - it's just a suggestion... Install LILO from sdb into the MBR or wherever you normally install it. Install LILO from sdd into the MBR of sdd. In the configuration for LILO on sdb, set up a boot option called 'test-disk' or something that will boot 'other' rather than 'image' (kind of like an entry for Windows, but pointing to /dev/sdd). To just keep a single /boot partition, as I recommend, set it up in the following way. The (common) /boot partition should be on /dev/sdb. Into it should be installed the kernel images for both installations. Make sure you give them names other than 'vmlinuz' so that a kernel compile won't overwrite your only copy of the bootable kernel... I call mine vmlinuz-<kernel version>-<build>. Store your /etc/lilo.conf in /boot, i.e. it's no longer /etc/lilo.conf, but /boot/lilo.conf. Now whenever you run LILO, you need to tell it where your configuration file is, for example: lilo -C /boot/lilo.conf You may want to set this up as an alias for both installations. That's how I would do it, anyway ;-) Actually, having said all of that, you may not be able to boot off /dev/sdd at all, due to BIOS limitations. Of course, if you already do that like you suggest, you may be alright. Hope that helps, Chris -- __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\