overflow (scroll) - 100% container height
Here's CSS styling to accomplish this:
#container {
width: 500px;
border: 3px solid red;
margin: 0 auto;
position: relative;
}
#sidebar {
position: absolute;
left: 0;
top: 0;
width: 150px;
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
overflow-y: scroll;
}
#main {
margin-left: 150px;
}
p, ul {
padding: 10px;
}
<div id="container">
<div id="sidebar">
<ul>
<li> line 1 </li>
<li> line 2 </li>
<li> line 3 </li>
<li> line 4 </li>
<li> line 5 </li>
<li> line 6 </li>
<li> line 7 </li>
<li> line 8 </li>
<li> line 9 </li>
<li> line 10 </li>
<li> line 11 </li>
<li> line 12 </li>
<li> line 13 </li>
<li> line 14 </li>
<li> line 15 </li>
<li> line 16 </li>
<li> line 17 </li>
<li> line 18 </li>
<li> line 19 </li>
<li> line 20 </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="main">
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</div>
</div>
Live demo: http://jsfiddle.net/TUwej/2/