Introduction

This document helps you with using the script within this repository, which aims to completely automate the process of partitioning.

Written by Mohsen K. Amini, Asteroid-belt | dec,2020

How it works

Preparing the input file

fdisk-automation.sh works with an input file which contains all the information about the partitions that are to be made.

So the only thing that you are required to do here, is to fill out a file with these information. As expected there are some rules to that. Let's see what's it all about ! here's a sample input file:

physical-address       label-type      Primary/extended        size    fstype  mountpoint      options dumpbackup      fscheck partition-number
/dev/sdb                mbr             p                       +300M   ext2    /mnt/mntpoint1  defaults        0       0       1
/dev/sdb                mbr             e                       +303M   -       -               -               -       -       2
/dev/sdb                mbr             l                       +30M    ext4    /mnt/mntpoint5  defaults        0       0       5
/dev/sdb                mbr             l                       +124M   swap    swap            defaults        0       0       6
/dev/sdc                gpt             -                       +2T     ext4    /mnt/mnt1       defaults        0       1       1
/dev/sdd                gpt             -                       +23M    swap    swap            defaults        1       2       125
/dev/sdd                gpt             -                       +2G     ext4    /mnt/mnt7       defaults        1       2       1

The important things that you must be careful about, in order for the script to function properly are :

• This script isn't meant to edit partitions on a disk, (although you can do this on mbr disks). This script should only be used to initiate partitioning on a disk.

• The field Primary/extended should be filled out only when defining an mbr partition. otherwise you should just leave a -.

• The physical addresses need to be back to back. It means that, when you start partitioning on e.g /dev/sdb you need to finish all the partitions on /dev/sdb before you go to the next physical disk.

• You need to make sure that mkfs tool, recognizes the filesystem type you're trying to format your partitions.

• You cannot create swap partitions that are based on a file rather than a disk partition with this script. more on that

• You need to fill the fields in a format that everything fits in sharp columns. Just like the sample above, as you can see, all the information fit perfectly under defined fields.we recommend you edit this sample to your own fits in notepad or vim

• As shown in the sample you can't define fstype, mount point, etc, when you're defining an extended partition in mbr method. -because simply we don't format them !

• While you are defining logical partitions in mbr method, you have to stay in the scale of 5-6-7...-15 (in order) we recommend always stay in order for this matter.

• The fields, parameteres and formats in columns : label-type Primary/extended size could only match with the formats shown in the example.

• DO NOT leave any parameter empty. like shown above just leave a -.

• You don't need to create the mount point directories you define in the input file. the script will do that automatically for you.

Running the script

once you're all set up with the input file, you could go ahead and run fdisk-automation.sh. At first the script makes sure that you have the parted package installed. After that, it asks for the address where the input file is stored on your machine. Put in the address and hit enter to continue.

==================================================================================================

Please enter the input file name :

It'll then automatically make the partitions, format and mount them to the addresses defined in the input file.

Monitor the report

At the end, you'll be provided with a little bit of report of made partitions, mounted ones and swap partitions that you wanted. You might also want to check out /etc/fstab and blkid for more.

The report will look like something like this :

########################################## FINAL REPORT ##########################################

=========================================== MADE PARTITIONS ======================================

NAME            MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda               8:0    0    8G  0 disk
├─sda1            8:1    0    1G  0 part /boot
└─sda2            8:2    0    7G  0 part
  ├─centos-root 253:0    0  6.2G  0 lvm  /
  └─centos-swap 253:1    0  820M  0 lvm  [SWAP]
sdb               8:16   0    5G  0 disk
├─sdb1            8:17   0  300M  0 part /mnt/mntpoint1
├─sdb2            8:18   0  301M  0 part /mnt/mntpoint2
├─sdb3            8:19   0    2G  0 part /mnt/mntpoint3
├─sdb4            8:20   0  512B  0 part
├─sdb5            8:21   0   30M  0 part /mnt/mntpoint5
├─sdb6            8:22   0   24M  0 part /mnt/mntpoint6
└─sdb7            8:23   0  124M  0 part [SWAP]
sdc               8:32   0    8G  0 disk
├─sdc1            8:33   0    2G  0 part /mnt/mnt1
├─sdc2            8:34   0  120M  0 part /mnt/mnt2
├─sdc3            8:35   0  120M  0 part /mnt/mnt3
├─sdc4            8:36   0  120M  0 part /mnt/mnt4
├─sdc5            8:37   0  120M  0 part /mnt/mnt5
└─sdc6            8:38   0  120M  0 part /mnt/mnt6
sdd               8:48   0    8G  0 disk
├─sdd1            8:49   0    2G  0 part /mnt/mnt7
└─sdd125        259:0    0   23M  0 part [SWAP]
========================================== MOUNTED PARTITIONS ====================================

Filesystem               Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/centos-root  6.2G  1.5G  4.8G  25% /
devtmpfs                 485M     0  485M   0% /dev
tmpfs                    496M     0  496M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                    496M  7.1M  489M   2% /run
tmpfs                    496M     0  496M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1               1014M  132M  883M  13% /boot
tmpfs                    100M     0  100M   0% /run/user/0
/dev/sdb1                291M  2.1M  274M   1% /mnt/mntpoint1
/dev/sdb2                292M  2.1M  275M   1% /mnt/mntpoint2
/dev/sdb3                2.0G  6.0M  1.8G   1% /mnt/mntpoint3
/dev/sdb5                 29M  731K   26M   3% /mnt/mntpoint5
/dev/sdb6                 23M  396K   21M   2% /mnt/mntpoint6
/dev/sdc1                2.0G  6.0M  1.8G   1% /mnt/mnt1
/dev/sdc2                113M  1.6M  105M   2% /mnt/mnt2
/dev/sdc3                113M  1.6M  105M   2% /mnt/mnt3
/dev/sdc4                113M  1.6M  105M   2% /mnt/mnt4
/dev/sdc5                113M  1.6M  105M   2% /mnt/mnt5
/dev/sdc6                113M  1.6M  105M   2% /mnt/mnt6
/dev/sdd1                2.0G  6.0M  1.8G   1% /mnt/mnt7
=========================================== SWAP PARTITIONS ======================================

Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       839676  0       -2
/dev/sdb7                               partition       126972  0       -3
/dev/sdd125                             partition       23548   0       -4
##################################################################################################

Contributions

Any PR(s) are welcomed.