----- Original Message -----
From: NetBSD Bob <nbsdbob@weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu>
To: Martin Stark <Martin.Stark@rz-online.de>
Cc: <port-pmax@netbsd.org>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2000 08:01
Subject: Re: Any HD size limitations on boot disk?

> A couple of questions.....
>
> What is the pro and con of having a file system that large on NetBSD
> or on a unix box, in general?   I was of the impression that if the
> file system sizes grew there was a slowdown in file system speed due
> to the time to traverse heads across the larger file systems.  Is that
> correct, or am I misunderstanding how it works?

It really depends on your application. ;-)

For myself, i mostly choose this sizes accordingly to my backup.

> Are there advantages speedwise to breaking down larger file systems
> into smaller units?   If so, does anyone have any feel for sizes
> involved?
>
> Also, on swap partition sizes, my DS5000/200 has 96mb mem.  I was a
> bit concerned about it trying to run over 200mb for a swap partition.

?

> What is the need of such a large swap partition if you have lots of
> memory.

lost of memory is relative ;-)

> I thought the idea of the swap partition was to optimize
> speed on small memory systems?

Nope. Your swap is virtual memory. For example, if you have 128MByte RAM,
and 384MByte Swap, you could compute data sets, which are up to 512 Mbyte in
size. (without thinking about the OS, drivers, ...)
It's an stupid example, but i hope it tells something.

> If you have lots of memory, you did not need so much swap.

Ok, take the answer this way:
If you have more memory in your system, that you EVER need, you don't need a
swap ;-)

> Can someone clarify that situation?  The
> 5000/200 is basically a small ftp/boot/archive server in a low-traffic
> environment with few users (like mostly me only).  It won't run X, or
> if it does, it will only be a minor usage.  It may serve some minor
> web pages.  Currently I am running a 32M swap on it, because of HD
> size constraints.  If I load up some larger drives, that won't be
> any particular problem.  But, I am curious about sizes vs needs in
> swap space.

For myself, on a usual system, at least the amount of RAM. In your case, 64
or 128 MByte. It doesn't hurt anyway, on a 17 GByte disk.

But it hurts, if you run out of Memory ...

> Thanks.... lots of questions and the ol' propeller beanie is spinning
> wildly, today.....(:+\\...

Why not, is so quiet here ;-)

cheers,
emanuel