Hi Ken, On Fri, 2009-07-17 at 09:09 -0400, Hendrickson, Kenneth wrote: > > > *0: A6 0 1 1 - 131 127 63 [ 63: 2112516 ] > > > OpenBSD > > > 1: DA 131 128 1 - 262 254 63 [ 2112579: 2112516 ] > > > <Unknown ID> > > > 2: DA 263 0 1 - 6211 254 63 [ 4225095: 95570685 ] > > > <Unknown ID> > > > 3: DA 6212 0 1 - 12160 254 63 [ 99795780: 95570685 ] > > > <Unknown ID> > > > > Just follow the instructions in the OpenBSD installer, offered by > > default. When it prompts you 'Do you want to use all of wd0 for OpenBSD', > > just say yes, it will run fdisk -i > > > > It will make partition 3 the default active bootable one > > But I *never* want to use the entire disk for OpenBSD. I have a system for > quick recovery in case of a disaster. I only use half of the disk. When I > install a new version of OpenBSD, I use the other half of the disk. That way, > if a disaster happens, I can quickly boot, run fdisk -- changing the bootable > partition, and then reboot into my previous system. > > In the above fdisk output, partitions 0 and 2 are my current system, while > partitions 1 and 3 are my last and next systems. After I install a new system > onto partitions 1 and 3, partitions 0 and 2 will become my last and next > systems. > > (Using 2 partitions like this is a holdover from the days when the bootable > partition had to be in the first few cylinders of the drive.)
>From Absolute OpenBSD - UNIX for the practical paranoid by Michael Lucas I've learned that: "OpenBSD partitions need to go within a single MBR partition. Dedicate a single MBR partition ... There can only be one OpenBSD MBR partition per hard disk." I can't make much sense of what you describe here, but to me it looks like it suggests that you're using a single disklabel which spans more than one MBR partition. Or even moving around the disklabel at will. If so, would you be willing to publish something like a howto on this subject?. Or else tell us where to find one? I know about multiple OpenBSD installations inside a single set of subpartitions, but that's still a single MBR partition. No fdisk or disklabel involved after initial setup, but probably more vulnerable than what you describe here. Bill > I'm surprised more people don't do this. It provides for very quick and easy > recovery in the case of a disaster. (I've only ever had such a disaster once; > I've been using OpenBSD since late 1996.) > > The other advantage of this system is that it provides an easy means for > seeing how I did things previously. I can quickly run disklabel, use an > empty slice to point to one of my old slices, and then mount it. After I'm > done I can run disklabel again and put it back. > > So I never want to use the entire disk for OpenBSD. Therefore, I will need > to remember to escape to a shell and run "fdisk -u" when installing to a > virgin disk. > > It would be nice if the OpenBSD install procedure checked for the lack of > a valid MBR, and installed one automatically (after asking); that would > save some people from experiencing the problem I experienced. > > Ken Hendrickson > _______________________________________________ > Soekris-tech mailing list > soekris-t...@lists.soekris.com > http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
