4.5 Disk Partitioning

The next phase of the installation setup involves deciding how the disk drive is to be partitioned and managed:

Figure 4-6

Assuming that this is a new disk on which an existing operating system is not present, the installer will provide the option to erase the entire disk and use it for Ubuntu (in which case the installer will calculate and implement a typical and recommended partition layout). If the security of the data stored on the disk is of paramount concern, select the option to encrypt the Ubuntu installation. If this option is selected a later screen will prompt you to choose a security key which will then need to be entered each time the system starts.

The option to use Logical Volume Management (LVM) is also strongly recommended to make the management of the disks and partitions on the system easier, a topic covered in detail in the chapter entitled “Adding a New Disk to an Ubuntu Volume Group and Logical Volume”.

Alternatively, to define your own custom disk layout or to implement more advanced configurations such as RAID, select the Manual option:

Figure 4-7

Unless you have a specific requirement, select the option to perform a guided LVM installation and follow the steps to confirm the target disk drive and to select the amount of available space to be allocated to the partition. Finally, review the partition configuration summary and select the Finish partitioning and write changes to disk menu option as shown in Figure 4-8:

Figure 4-8

Provide a final confirmation and then wait while the partition is created and the base system installed.

Figure 4-9

On the next screen, select your preferred option for installing updates on the running system. It is generally recommended to have updates installed automatically, though the manual option is also available if you prefer to control when updates are installed. If, on the other hand, you are managing multiple Ubuntu systems using the Landscape web management environment, select the Landscape option from the menu:

Figure 4-10