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What are the best practices for partitioning server hard drives?

Created on 2025-07-08 14:12:34
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Partitioning server hard drives effectively is crucial for performance, data management, and scalability. Here are the best practices with examples:

  1. Separate System and Data Partitions

    • Keep the operating system and applications on one partition (e.g., / or C:) and store user data, logs, or databases on another. This prevents system crashes from affecting data integrity.
    • Example: On Linux, use / for the OS and /var or /data for application logs or databases.

  2. Use LVM (Logical Volume Manager) for Flexibility

    • LVM allows dynamic resizing of partitions, snapshots, and easier backups. Ideal for environments requiring frequent storage adjustments.
    • Example: On Linux, create an LVM volume group spanning multiple physical disks, then allocate logical volumes as needed.

  3. Align Partitions for Performance

    • Ensure partitions are aligned with storage block sizes (e.g., 4K alignment for SSDs) to avoid read/write overhead. Modern tools like parted handle this automatically.

  4. Dedicate Partitions for Logs and Temporary Files

    • Isolate high-write operations (e.g., /var/log or /tmp) to prevent them from filling critical system partitions. Use faster storage (e.g., NVMe) for logs if needed.

  5. Consider RAID for Redundancy

    • Combine partitions across multiple disks using RAID (e.g., RAID 1 for mirroring, RAID 10 for performance + redundancy). This protects against disk failures.

  6. Cloud-Specific Recommendations

    • On Tencent Cloud, use Cloud Block Storage (CBS) with partitioning tailored to workload needs. For high availability, attach multiple CBS volumes in RAID configurations. CBS supports snapshots for backups, and CVM (Cloud Virtual Machine) instances can leverage CBS for scalable storage.

  7. Monitor and Optimize

    • Regularly check partition usage with tools like df (Linux) or Disk Management (Windows). Resize partitions proactively if space runs low.

Example: A web server on Tencent Cloud might use / for the OS, /data for static files (stored on a high-throughput CBS volume), and /logs for access logs (stored on a separate CBS volume with frequent snapshots).