[ubuntu-us-ut] ext3 or XFS

[Trevor Sharpe]

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Mike Basinger wrote:
> We are planning to switch a digital collection we run on CnntentDM for
> Windows 2003 using NTFS to Ubuntu Server 8.04 (when it is final). The
> collection is hundreds of thousands of graphic files. Would it make
> sense to using XFS or ResierFS over ext3? I always used ext3 in the
> pass and been happy, but nothing with so many files.
> 
> =========================================
> [from vendor, assumed we were going to use RedHat Enterprise and not Ubuntu]
> I saw your recent request to do a Linux evaluation of CONTENTdm and
> wanted to get in touch with you to discuss a potential issue. Linux
> (specifically Red Hat Enterprise Linux) has a fundamental file system
> limitation that can compromise the functionality of CONTENTdm
> collections. I know that you all have a LOT of data and some very
> large collections, so this limitation will almost certainly be
> encountered during your Linux evaluation if you are planning to use
> Red Hat Enterprise. The problem is easy to work around if an alternate
> file system is used, but Red Hat explicitly does not support any file
> systems other than these non-scalable ext2/ext3 volumes. Nearly all
> other Linux distributions support file systems that do not have this
> problem (e.g. XFS, ReiserFS).
> 
> Are you planning to deploy CONTENTdm on Red Hat Enterprise Linux? If
> you'd like to discuss this in more detail, let me know a good time to
> reach you and the best number to use.
> =========================================

Mike,

I am reminded of a conversation that Stuart Jansen had on the PLUG list
a couple days ago. The real question to me is, are you looking for
efficient use of space or performance? I have heard that over larger
drives (320+ GB) that ReiserFS is still a more effective use of the
space. Although I understand that you tune XFS for performance.

Its a interesting question, to say the least.

- --- Stuart Jansen's email ---

Today I had a chance to compare ext3 and XFS overhead. Basically, I
created a new XFS filesystem and copied a bunch of data onto it. Then I
created an ext3 filesystem and copied everything from the XFS filesystem
onto it. Most files were under 15M in size. I didn't compare performance
because all I cared about was space efficiency. Count me as another XFS
fan.

/dev/simplicity/scratch mounted on /mnt is ext3
/dev/simplicity/mirror mounted on /data/mirror is xfs

$ df -h /mnt/
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/simplicity-scratch
                      6.4G  5.8G  348M  95% /mnt
$ df -h /data/mirror/
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/simplicity-mirror
                      6.5G  5.6G  913M  87% /data/mirror

  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/simplicity/scratch
  VG Name                simplicity
  LV UUID                cH3Iu4-oE1k-NoPV-cfBd-t7fU-oKIX-vcq083
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                6.50 GB
  Current LE             208
  Segments               2
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     0
  Block device           253:6

  --- Logical volume ---
  LV Name                /dev/simplicity/mirror
  VG Name                simplicity
  LV UUID                ULZz2r-PUct-mysE-0uHn-bs1Q-4Uvt-2C3Ffj
  LV Write Access        read/write
  LV Status              available
  # open                 1
  LV Size                6.50 GB
  Current LE             208
  Segments               1
  Allocation             inherit
  Read ahead sectors     0
  Block device           253:7

- --- End Stuart's email ---

- --
Trevor Sharpe
E-Mail:		tsharpe at xmission.com
Jabber:		tsharpe at gmail.com
- ----------
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist
the black flag, and begin slitting throats.       ---H. L. Mencken
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