[NCLUG] Installing ubuntu 12.04 to ZFS root directory

[Phil Marsh]

Incidentally, I stand corrected regarding my previous message about installing / on ZFS.
One must follow the instructions of 
>> https://github.com/zfsonlinux/pkg-zfs/wiki/HOWTO-install-Ubuntu-to-a-Native-ZFS-Root-Filesystem
exactly regarding the editing of the /mnt/etc/network/interfaces because, oddly, the default configuration of this file yields a system that won't connect to the internet while running in terminal mode (no desktop GUI) as root and you then won't be able to install the desktop.
However, if one does the advised edit, then one finds that there is no internet connection with the advised edits when running the desktop GUI! So, after getting the desktop installed, then I had to go back and change the file back to its default.
I suggest one install the OS to a thumbdrive with ZFS etc.. installed to make manipulating the system easier.
Thanks, 
Phil
 

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 19, 2013, at 9:37 AM, Jesse Griffin <jesse at tummy.com> wrote:

> On 08/18/2013 05:33 PM, phil marsh wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>> It finally sunk in what Bob was saying to me during the dinner of the last NCLUG meeting.
>> I recall him saying that one could install GRUB and the /boot directory to an SSD which would need very little space.
>> Next, one could install / and /home to a ZFS pool while having /boot and the MBR on an SSD.
>> I went to: 
>> https://github.com/zfsonlinux/pkg-zfs/wiki/HOWTO-install-Ubuntu-to-a-Native-ZFS-Root-Filesystem
>> to find out how to install the /, with the exception of /boot which would be installed on a non-zfs filesystem,  and /home directories to a ZFS pool.
>> Apparently, GRUB and the MBR have to still be installed outside of any ZFS pool to work properly?
>> I have installed Ubuntu 12.04 to ZFS as described above and in the link. I did notice a few small errors (or differences between my and the author's system) namely, that one should not change the default /mnt/etc/network/interfaces file but instead leave it alone - I could not connect my network card after booting to the desktop GUI with the suggested changes.
>> 
>> Also, after installation, I had to update (add the standard repositories to) the /etc/apt/sources.list file and the /etc/apt/source.list.d directory in order to have all the standard repositories that one would have in a normal Ubuntu 12.04 desktop install.
>> In order to do this, I was lucky to have a box that had Ubuntu 12.04 installed already but if you need, I can provide you my 
>> /etc/apt/sources.list file and 
>> /etc/apt/source.list.d directory
>> as well as a list of my installed packages.
>> 
>> My /boot directory and MBR now occupy a whole 500GB drive which is extremely wasteful to say the least!
>> My questions are:
>> 1. Can I move my /boot directory and MBR to a thumb drive which I will permanently place in one of the box's USB ports? I can apparently set the BIOS to boot from the USB (as for a USB live disk). I think this is possible and not too difficult but please comment if I'm mistaken.
> 
> Yes.
> 
>> 2. Do you think this would be a good idea and also, would it give rise to problems later? I don't think the /boot directory sees many writes but again, I could be mistaken.
> 
> The only time /boot should be written do is when there is a kernel upgrade, or
> if you manually update grub for some reason.  You are right, /boot is written to
> infrequently.  I don't think you'll run into any problems here.
> 
> --
> Thank you,
> Jesse Griffin
> tummy.com, ltd.
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