Linux 3.4 and btrfs

M

MyWorld

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
Messages
5,001
Reaction score
6
Location
Wes Transvaal
It seems that btrfs is nearing mainstream by leap and bounds. In the latest kernel release it got a lot of love.

http://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/linux-3.4-kernel-gets-btr-batman.html

In terms of features, enhancements to the Btrfs filesystem top the list. The Btrfs effort was initiated by Oracle engineer Chris Mason as a means to provide a more robust filesystem for Linux than the default Ext4 system.
.
.
.
Linux 3.4 adds a new btfs-restore utility for Btrfs, which can help to recover data from a filesystem that is not mountable. Performance in Btrfs has also been improved with support for metadata blocks of up to 64KB in size, up from the previous 4KB.
Click to expand...

There are some other neat additions, but I think most of us are more enthusiastic towards btrfs.
 
Linux 3.4 adds a new btfs-restore utility for Btrfs, which can help to recover data from a filesystem that is not mountable.
Click to expand...

I like the sound of that. Hopefully there will be some performace benchmarks out soon.

Wonder if I should try and convert my ext4 to btrfs a bit later on.....?

Edit: Does btrfs have reliable fsck yet?
 
Last edited:
ponder said:
Edit: Does btrfs have reliable fsck yet?
Click to expand...

Almost:
It does!

The first detailed report on what comprises "btrfsck"

The btrfsck tool in the git master branch for btrfs-progs is now capable of repairing some types of filesystem breakage. It is not well-tested in real-life situations yet. If you have a broken filesystem, it is probably better to use btrfsck with advice from one of the btrfs developers, just in case something goes wrong. (But even if it does go badly wrong, you've still got your backups, right?)

Note that there is also a recovery tool in the btrfs-progs git repository which can often be used to copy essential files out of broken filesystems.
Click to expand...
https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/FAQ#When_will_Btrfs_have_a_fsck_like_tool.3F

So they are almost there, I'll wait till it moves out of git into stable before trying btrfs, but it seems it is only a matter of time now. Arch linux have btrfs-progs-git if someone wants to try and report back?
:D
 
MyWorld said:
So they are almost there, I'll wait till it moves out of git into stable before trying btrfs, but it seems it is only a matter of time now. Arch linux have btrfs-progs-git if someone wants to try and report back?
:D
Click to expand...

I'll pass for now thank you. Don't feel like being a guinea pig on this one :D
 
Now for the juicy bit, answering ocleroux:
Btrfs is intended to address the lack of pooling, snapshots, checksums and integral multi-device spanning in Linux file systems, these features being crucial as Linux use scales upward into larger storage configurations common in the enterprise. Chris Mason, the principal Btrfs author, has stated that its goal was "to let Linux scale for the storage that will be available. Scaling is not just about addressing the storage but also means being able to administer and to manage it with a clean interface that lets people see what's being used and makes it more reliable."
In 2008, the principal developer of the ext3 and ext4 file systems, Theodore Ts'o, stated that although ext4 has improved features, it is not a major advance, it uses old technology, and is a stop-gap; Ts'o believes that Btrfs is the better direction because "it offers improvements in scalability, reliability, and ease of management". Btrfs also has "a number of the same design ideas that reiser3/4 had".
Click to expand...

Btrfs is a new copy on write (CoW) filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.
Click to expand...

It is the next generation file system aimed at being extremely stable and reliable with features like online compression and native snapshot capabilities it will be a "must have" especially on PC's with "mission critical data" (data centres, etc.) So far it offers no great advantage for home users other than being the new kid on the block, but give it time and in a year or two you will be saying "how on earth did we manage with those ancient ext3/4 file systems!"
 
MyWorld said:
Now for the juicy bit, answering ocleroux:




It is the next generation file system aimed at being extremely stable and reliable with features like online compression and native snapshot capabilities it will be a "must have" especially on PC's with "mission critical data" (data centres, etc.) So far it offers no great advantage for home users other than being the new kid on the block, but give it time and in a year or two you will be saying "how on earth did we manage with those ancient ext3/4 file systems!"
Click to expand...


Thanks meneer...so it aint gonna make my lappie boot up in 1 second flat from cold start??? DAMN! :p
 
ocleroux said:
Thanks meneer...so it aint gonna make my lappie boot up in 1 second flat from cold start??? DAMN! :p
Click to expand...

No, that would only happen in conjunction with installing a flux capacitor in your lappie and realigning all the sectors ;)
 
MyWorld said:
Btrfs is intended to address the lack of pooling, snapshots, checksums and integral multi-device spanning in Linux file systems, these features being crucial as Linux use scales upward into larger storage configurations common in the enterprise. Chris Mason, the principal Btrfs author, has stated that its goal was "to let Linux scale for the storage that will be available. Scaling is not just about addressing the storage but also means being able to administer and to manage it with a clean interface that lets people see what's being used and makes it more reliable."
...
Btrfs is a new copy on write (CoW) filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.
Click to expand...
It is the next generation file system aimed at being extremely stable and reliable with features like online compression and native snapshot capabilities...
Click to expand...

In other words, btrfs is the wine they're making from the sour grapes about ZFS not being license compatible with the linux kernel. ;)
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
The main reason I want to use this is to have better data integrity for raid setups.
Click to expand...
I personally plan on building a file server with the intetention of have data integrity and as well as using it to backup most of my important stuff as well as all my media.

For this, I have been reading a lot up on BTRFS, and while it seems ok, I still don't think its a valid candidate for what I want to do. While there are options like Nexenta and FreeBSD to get ZFS, I think I will probably end up using Linux with ZFSonLinux in the end.
 
Tinuva said:
While there are options like Nexenta and FreeBSD to get ZFS, I think I will probably end up using Linux with ZFSonLinux in the end.
Click to expand...

I have been testing zfsonlinux out and I'm not yet convinced I want to trust my data to it. Crucially, when I pulled a drive from a raidz, I had it occasionally refuse to offline that drive until I reboot the box, after which it would refuse to bring up the degraded raidz or rebuild it. I might end up just using FreeBSD for it, if I can rearrange my hardware to make space for it.
 
Flojo said:
btrfs probably not ready yet
Click to expand...

Cripes, it's worse than I thought. Performance isn't so much my concern though. For my needs, it only needs to be able to read and write a couple of MB per second. At work a few customers have insisted on using it, and they didn't last long on it. It was perfectly fine on their desktops and even in their testing, but under real world workload it wasn't particularly stable.
 
I am not convinced about using zfs on Linux, it just doesn't feel right :) I am very tempted to build another box and give zfsguru (http://zfsguru.com/) a go, but that means I need to run a third machine in my small flat. Maybe I should just convert my desktop pc in to my NAS and get a decent laptop. Decisions :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X