[GRLUG] VPS, multiple partitions?

[Jeff DeFouw]

On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 12:28:37AM -0400, Dave Chiodo wrote:
> Ok, I have a VPS server, and it was installed with an "all on one
> filesystem" partition scheme. I recently decided to pursue changing this,
> and had the below exchange with the support department at the company that
> provides my VPS. I beleive they use "Xen" as their VPS service.
> 
> Is what they are telling me legit? It sounds like BS to me. Why should I
> not be able to partition the virtual HD any way I want, and if they are
> baking up an image of the entire virtual HD, why should any changes I make
> to it prevent their backup from being able to put it back the way it was?
> 
> Anyway, here's the gist of the exchange, any tips, advice, correction, or
> support appreciated.

I have a Linode (a Xen VPS).  I can make partitions through the 
management web site.  I've never used their backup, but I found this 
under the Limitations section of the Backup page:

"The backup system must be able to mount your disk images on the host. 
If you've used fdisk on your images to create partitions, or created 
encrypted volumes, or done anything other than use our deployment or 
disk image creation tools, we won't be able to back up the data. The 
backup system operates on files, not at the block level. "

It doesn't say anything specific about restoring partitions, except that 
only a full restore is possible.

-- 
Jeff DeFouw <mrj at plorb.com>