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Christopher Negus

"Linux Bible, 2008 Edition: Boot up to Ubuntu, Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, openSUSE, and 11 Other Distributions"

Having /usr on a separate partition lets you mount that file system as read-only
after the operating system has been installed. This prevents attackers from replacing or
removing important system applications with their own versions that may cause security
problems. A separate /usr partition is also useful if you have diskless workstations
on your local network. Using NFS, you can share /usr over the network with those
workstations.
/var Your FTP (/var/ftp) and Web server (/var/www) directories are, by default in many
Linux systems, stored under /var. Having a separate /var partition can prevent an
attack on those facilities from corrupting or filling up your entire hard disk.
/home Because your user account directories are located in this directory, having a separate
/home account can prevent a reckless user from filling up the entire hard disk.
/tmp Protecting /tmp from the rest of the hard disk by placing it on a separate partition
can ensure that applications that need to write to temporary files in /tmp are able to
complete their processing, even if the rest of the disk fills up.
Using LILO or GRUB Boot Loaders
A boot loader lets you choose when and how to boot the bootable operating systems installed on
your computer??™s hard disks. Most Linux systems give you the opportunity to use GRUB or LILO
boot loaders.


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