Datasheet

“main” (Installation and Administration) — 2004/6/25 — 13:29 — page 138 — #164

Speed and Main Memory

In Linux, the size of main memory is often more important than the pro-

cessor speed. One reason, if not the main reason, for this is the ability of

Linux to create dynamic buffers containing hard disk data. For this pur-

pose, Linux uses various tricks, such as read ahead (reading of sectors in ad-

vance) and delayed write (postponement and bundling of write access). The

latter is the reason why you should not simply switch off your Linux ma-

chine. Both factors contribute to the fact that the main memory seems to ﬁll

up over time and that Linux is so fast. See Section 10.2.6 on page 249.

3.10 LVM Conﬁguration

This professional partitioning tool enables you to edit and delete existing

partitions and create new ones. Access the Soft RAID and LVM conﬁgura-

tion from here.

Note

Background information and partitioning tips can be found in

Section 3.9 on page 134.

Note

In normal circumstances, partitions are set up during installation. How-

ever, it is possible to integrate a second hard disk in an existing Linux sys-

tem. First, the new hard disk must be partitioned. Then it must be mounted

and entered into the /etc/fstab ﬁle. It may be necessary to copy some of

the data to move an /opt partition from the old hard disk to the new one.

Use caution repartitioning the hard disk in use — this is essentially possi-

ble, but you will have to reboot the system right afterwards. It is a bit safer

to boot from CD then repartition it.

‘Experts. . . ’ opens a pop-up menu containing the following commands:

Reread Partition Table Rereads the partitioning from disk. For example,

you need this for manual partitioning in the text console.

Adopt Mount Points from Existing /etc/fstab

This is only relevant during installation. Reading the old fstab is

useful for completely reinstalling your system rather than just

updating it. In this case, it is not necessary to enter the mount points

by hand.

138 3.10. LVM Conﬁguration