Re: new pc and swap

[David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>]

On 10/30/2016 04:56 AM, Pol Hallen wrote:
> I bought a new notebook: i7 2.2Ghz, 8Gb ram and ssd 256Gb.
> 
> Consider that small disk, can I install debian without swap? Does swap
> still useful?

For my SOHO LAN environment, I build my Debian Wheezy systems on a 16 GB
SSD with 10% over-provisioning [1].  The installer defaults to MBR
partitioning [2], which is what I prefer.  Here are my notes from the
last laptop build:

    Partitioning method         manual

    partition #1
        size                    0.5 GB
        type                    primary
        location                beginning
        use as                  ext4
        format                  yes
        mount point             /boot
        mount options           defaults
        label                   t7400_boot
        reserved blocks         5%
        typical usage           standard
        bootable flag           on

    partition #2
        size                    0.5 GB
        type                    primary
        location                beginning
        use as                  physical volume for encryption
        encrypt method          device-mapper
        encryption              aes
        key size                256
        IV algorithm            xts-plain64
        encryption method       random key
        erase data              yes
        bootable flag           off

    partition #3
        size                    13.4 GB
        type                    primary
        location                beginning
        use as                  physical volume for encryption
        encrypt method          device-mapper
        encryption              aes
        key size                256
        IV algorithm            xts-plain64
        encryption method       Passphrase
        erase data              yes
        bootable flag           off

    Encrypted volume (sdb3_crypt)  - 13.4 GB Linux device-mapper
        use as                  ext4
        mount point             /
        mount options           defaults
        label                   t7400_root
        reserved blocks         5%
        typical usage           standard


The only thing I'd change today would be "Encrypted volume (sdb3_crypt)"
-> "use as btrfs".


I have run systems without swap in the past, but found that they crashed
when memory usage was heavy.


When a workstation system drive is an SSD larger than 16 GB, I often
create a "scratch" partition with 90% of the remaining space that I can
use for applications that create large temporary directories/ files
(such as the 'Lives' video editor).


I put my "bulk" data on a file server with TB+ HDD's.


This works great when I'm at home, but not so great when I go remote
with my laptop.  Solution ideas include:

1.  VPN.

2.  A FOSS equivalent of Microsoft's Offline Files/Client Side Caching:

	http://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2009/99/Offline-FS



David


[1]
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4404566/Understanding-SSD-over-provisioning

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning