which file system to use

[David Abrahams]

ubuntu at rio.vg writes:

> David Abrahams wrote:
>> Alexander Skwar <listen at alexander.skwar.name> writes:
>> 
>>> · David Abrahams <dave at boost-consulting.com>:
>>>
>>> Well, if it comes as "fast" to Linux, as it came to Solaris, then
>>> I wouldn't hold my breathe if I were you...
>> 
>> It's coming along quite nicely AFAICT.
>> 
>
> As I've said in an earlier thread, I'm a bit skeptical of ZFS and it's
> claims... but I ran across this quote from the Wiki entry that seems to
> be a rather hefty red flag:
>
> "ZFS is currently not available as a root filesystem since there is no
> ZFS boot support, Sun plan to add this feature in late 2006."

In the linux world, doesn't that translate to "ZFS is currently not
available as a /boot partition...?"

> Then there's:
>
> "Sun has said it is investigating the porting of ZFS to Linux but this
> is complicated by the incompatibility between the OpenSolaris license
> CDDL and the GPL which governs the Linux kernel."
>
> So don't expect the linux kernel to support it.  Unless Sun changes the
> license, it will never enter the kernel.  The current "Google Summer of
> Code" project is to get ZFS running under FUSE, so it will only run in
> userspace...

Is that a problem?

> In terms of ZFS, the operative phrase is "Don't hold your breath."
> Maybe, someday, it'll be ready, but not any time soon... there's a long
> way from "We've jury-rigged it to run through FUSE", and "I'll trust it
> with my critical data."

What makes that a "jury-rig?"  Seems to my naive eye that a
kernel-supported implementation, being more invasive and harder to
test, is also likely to be more prone to instability.

Anyway, I guess I'm liking the idea of Nextenta OS for my server more
and more.  As long as I can run virtualization software like VMWare on
it, I'm all set.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com