Linux File System

Linux File System
Use 'ext3' file system in Linux.
- It is enhanced version of ext2
- With journaling capability - high level of data integrity (in event of unclean shutdown)
- It does not need to check disks on unclean shutdown and reboot (time consuming)
- Faster write - ext3 journaling optimizes hard drive head motion
# mke2fs -j -b 2048 -i 4096 /dev/sda
mke2fs 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
/dev/sda is entire device, not just one partition!
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=2048 (log=1)
Fragment size=2048 (log=1)
13107200 inodes, 26214400 blocks
1310720 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
1600 block groups
16384 blocks per group, 16384 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
16384, 49152, 81920, 114688, 147456, 409600, 442368, 802816, 1327104,
2048000, 3981312, 5619712, 10240000, 11943936

Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 28 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
Use 'noatime' File System Mount Option
Use 'noatime' option in the file system boot-up configuration file 'fstab'. Edit the fstab file under /etc. This option works the best if external storage is used, for example, SAN:
# more /etc/fstab
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdc2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0
/dev/sda /database ext3 defaults,noatime 1 2
/dev/sdb /logs ext3 defaults,noatime 1 2
/dev/sdc /multimediafiles ext3 defaults,noatime 1 2
Tune the Elevator Algorithm in Linux Kernel for Disk I/O
After choosing the file system, there are several kernel and mounting options that can affect it. One such kernel setting is the elevator algorithm. Tuning the elevator algorithm helps the system balance the need for low latency with the need to collect enough data to efficiently organize batches of read and write requests to the disk. The elevator algorithm can be adjusted with the following command:
# elvtune -r 1024 -w 2048 /dev/sda
/dev/sda elevator ID 2
read_latency: 1024
write_latency: 2048
max_bomb_segments: 6
The parameters are: read latency (-r), write latency (-w) and the device affected.
Red Hat recommends using a read latency half the size of the write latency (as shown).
As usual, to make this setting permanent, add the 'elvtune' command to the
/etc/rc.d/rc.local script.

Others
Disable Unnecessary Daemons (They Take up Memory and CPU)
There are daemons (background services) running on every server that are probably not needed. Disabling these daemons frees memory, decreases startup time, and decreases the number of processes that the CPU has to handle. A side benefit to this is increased security of the server because fewer daemons mean fewer exploitable processes.

Some example Linux daemons running by default (and should be disabled). Use command:
#/sbin/chkconfig --levels 2345 sendmail off
#/sbin/chkconfig sendmail off
Daemon Description
apmd Advanced power management daemon
autofs Automatically mounts file systems on demand (i.e.: mounts a CD-ROM automatically)
cups Common UNIX� Printing System
hpoj HP OfficeJet support
isdn ISDN modem support
netfs Used in support of exporting NFS shares
nfslock Used for file locking with NFS
pcmcia PCMCIA support on a server
rhnsd Red Hat Network update service for checking for updates and security errata
sendmail Mail Transport Agent
xfs Font server for X Windows
Shutdown GUI
Normally, there is no need for a GUI on a Linux server. All administration tasks can be achieved by the command line, redirecting the X display or through a Web browser interface. Modify the 'inittab' file to set boot level as 3:
To set the initial runlevel (3 instead of 5) of a machine at boot,
modify the /etc/inittab fi
Disable the Ctrl-Alt-Delete shutdown keys in Linux
On a production system it is recommended that you disable the [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete] shutdown. It is configured using /etc/inittab (used by sysv-compatible init process) file. The inittab file describes which processes are started at bootup and during normal operation. You need to open this file and remove (or comment it) ctrlaltdel entry.
Ctrlaltdel specifies the process that will be executed when init receives the SIGINT signal. SIGINT is the symbolic name for the signal thrown by computer programs when a user wishes to interrupt the process, for example reboot/shutdown system using [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Del].). This means that someone on the system console has pressed the CTRL-ALT-DEL key combination. Typically one wants to execute some sort of shutdown either to get into single-user level or to reboot the machine.