Problem: How to resize FreeBSD "partitions" on a live system?

This is something I have thought about for a long time.

Is it really so bad to use / for the entire disk (except (MEM * 2) for
swap)? I have found that with the auto defaults, my /var quickly grows
out of control (heavy database; lots of spam filling up logs, etc...).

I have absolutely no idea how to change the size of a
partition/slice/whatever the actual term is (there seems to be great
confusion regarding this). I have tried asking people, reading manpages
(starting with fdisk), etc... but no luck.

So... how do you do it? Is it difficult? Perhaps it is, but worth the
trouble?

The box is a FreeBSD 6.1 box acting as a busy dedicated Web/internal
(MySQL) database server. PHP 5. Will access Web data files and the
database frequently.

Do you really earn that much performance by chopping up your system/HDD
in little pieces? I realize that this is closer to the "ideal" system
(considering the present's hardware and how computers work in general),
and I like to do things "right" (would I be writing this if that
weren't the case?), but does it really matter?

BTW... when I ran the installer the last time, I think I found a bug. I
chose the auto defaults, deleted the /var and /usr (apparently, you
can't just resize/modify them directly), and re-added /var with 10000M
(the HDD is 40 GB), and was gonna give the rest to /usr. The exact
amount of "free" space left was what I added (in fact, it was filled in
exactly by default), but it kept complaining that there was "no space
left"! What is up with that?

I tried giving it just a few MBs, and that worked. Some kind of
rounding error? Highly annoying in either case...

Please tell me what to do! I can't make up my mind... and I don't think
I really know enough about this to make the right choice. Yes, I have
read the installer's explanations. They sound reasonable, and I'd love
to do it like you're supposed to, but I'd like to hear your comments on
this first.

So, to clearify: I would like to know how to expand my /var on a live
system, taking space from /usr! :-)

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Civic SI replacement?
    ... well away from the sporty range in order to maximize mpg. ... either you're failing to articulate your original point or you're trying to wriggle out of the fact that there's no inherent output difference between a honda auto and a honda stick. ... the only difference is the control system. ...
    (rec.autos.makers.honda)
  • OT: Modified car question.
    ... This evening I've been offered a swap for my nicer Range Rover. ... Vogue SE Auto, LPG with underfloor tanks. ...
    (uk.rec.cars.modifications)
  • Re: Textbox autocomplete working only if multiline is set to false
    ... I used multiline with a custom control ... I think I'll move mack to one line control ... In my opinion, auto complete feature makes sense for one line of text, ... Microsoft Online Community Support ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.windowsforms)
  • Re: CFT: vr(4)
    ... database for several months. ... reliably detect link state changes. ... on miibus1 ... 100baseTX-FDX, auto ...
    (freebsd-current)
  • RE: Merging 9 stand alone Databases
    ... If you delete the relationship, change the autonumber field to number, ... Then change the autonumber PK fields to Numbers EXCEPT for in the master ... The problem is the auto number it is the primary key and unique Identifier ... Each database structure is identical so ...
    (microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign)