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тАО12-29-2004 03:22 AM
тАО12-29-2004 03:22 AM
ext2 optimizations for writes?
I'm currently using ext2 filesystems on the MSA1500's since I'm interested in flat-out write performance (vs. journaling or read performance). What recommendations can you kind folks make for tuning ext2 for max write efficiency or for replacing ext2 with something else that's HP-supportable under RedHat Enterprise Linux 3.0 ES?
Thanks!
Jim
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тАО12-29-2004 03:28 AM
тАО12-29-2004 03:28 AM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
I don't either of them are very well optimized for writes but they are well supported. Without outright replacing the filesystem the best bet is to try and mimic async write functionality like we have on hpux.
Thats probably done with mount options.
This link kinda gets into the topic:
http://www.beowulf.org/archive/2002-April/006630.html
Maybe something else in my little google hunt will help.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=ext2+ext3+%22mount+options%22+%22write+performance%22&btnG=Search
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тАО12-29-2004 03:32 AM
тАО12-29-2004 03:32 AM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
Are you sure ext2 is a journaling file system? I thought that was the major diff between ext2 and ext3.
Thanks,
Jim
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тАО12-29-2004 05:16 AM
тАО12-29-2004 05:16 AM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
as far as I know, ext3 is ext2 improuved by journaling feature. So ext2 is not "journal protected", then it is supposed to have more i/o performance.
I'm affraid that doesn't have good chances to improuve performance by tunning ext2.
regards,
xyko
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тАО12-29-2004 08:26 AM
тАО12-29-2004 08:26 AM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
My links should provide you the mount options you need to maximize write reliability or throughput.
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тАО12-29-2004 05:53 PM
тАО12-29-2004 05:53 PM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
A no brainer mount option is 'noatime', which means the access time on files will not be updated.
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тАО12-29-2004 06:40 PM
тАО12-29-2004 06:40 PM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
I suggest you to start from global overview of your system:
-hardware [MSA500 firmware/disks speed/RAID configuration]
- linux kernel & storage drive tuning
- choosing optimal fs parameters (block size, ...)
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тАО12-30-2004 02:09 AM
тАО12-30-2004 02:09 AM
Re: ext2 optimizations for writes?
Vitaly, that's what I started doing yesterday. I have large diagram on my dry-erase board right now that shows data flow (and cmd/ctrl/status) between HP-UX client, HP-UX DP 5.1 cell mgr, and Linux device server (talks to the MSA1500's). I can run 500GB of client data to a single LTO-2 (Ultrium 460) in 2 hrs 53 mins. That same client data takes 6 hrs 55 mins to write to the MSA1500 disks. Obviously, I want disk backup to run faster than tape backup which it is not at this point. I've got to figure out the right combination of the following:
+ MSA1500 array and virtual drive parameters
+ Linux filesystem/mount parameters
+ Linux Fibre Channel HBA settings
+ Linux TCP/IP settings
+ Data Protector "virtual" tape drive settings
Dirk, thanks for the ext2/ext3 confirmation. I have remounted the MSA filesystems with noatime, but from what I've read it looks like that only benefits read operations. It didn't seem to yield a measurable improvement to sequential writes.
Steven, thanks for the follow-up on ext2/ext3.
Xyco, as with the others, thanks for the ext2/ext3 journaling confirmation.
When I built the ext2 filesystems, I took all the defaults except for largefiles (one inode per 1MB) and sparse superblock (didn't need three zillion copies of the superblock since the eight filesystems are 1.2TB each). It's likely I've missed an opportunity for optimization at the filesystem level. These are simple 1.2TB mountpoints with about 291 each 4GB files that Data Protector treats as virtual tapes.
I'm also shooting in the dark with the Data Protector virtual tape drive settings. Currently they are:
+ Block size (kB) = 256
+ Segment size (MB) = 800
+ Disk agent buffers = 16
These are the settings that give me blazing performance on Ultrium 460 tape drives, but they may be grossly inappropriate for "virtual" tape drives writing to virtual tapes (disk).
This really has become quite a challenge trying to take a box full of general purpose parts (Linux server, MSA1500's, SATA shelves) and make them work faster than a monolithic device (Ultrium 460) designed specifically for backup purposes.
I welcome everyone's continued suggestions.
Thanks,
Jim