convert a "largefiles" file system to a "nolargefiles" one

[Marc Ahrendt]

details:
HP-UX 11.11
2 file systems: / (vxfs) and /stand (hfs)
without OnlineJFS

my failed attempt:
added "nolargefiles" in /etc/fstab
rebooted
running "fsadm" still shows / as "largefiles"

[Pete Randall]

Personally I can't imagine why you would want to do this but try running

fsadm -o nolargefiles /dev/vgXX/lvolXX


Pete

[Sandman!]

Marc,

You can use fsadm to conver from large files to nolargefiles, however it'll fail if there are any large files currently on the particular device.

cheers!

[Rick Garland]

The nolargefiles option is not needed in the fstab.

Use the fsadm command as posted.

Note: If you are largefiles on a filesystem but do not have any largefiles, there is no harm is leaving it that way.

[Bill Hassell]

The largefiles feature involves a conversion of the directories which is a one way change. Although you may not have any largefiles on this filesystem, there is no un-convert command. The filesystems / and /stand are far too small to worry about largefiles--they can't be created on those mountpoints because there isn't enough room.

[Marc Ahrendt]

will get to assigning points ...but right now just looking to sum up a few things

1st: "/" (lvol4) on this server in ~60GB ...again the only other file system is /stand (lvol1) so it has /opt stuff and so forth

2nd: i verified that / does not currently have any files even above 1GB in size let alone 2GB

3rd: i am about worried about running "fsadm -o nolargefiles /dev/vg00/rlvol4" ...could i corrupt "/"? this box would be very painful to restore

FYI: lets not discuss why there is only these two file systems (i did not make the system ....HP did if you can believe that) nor why i want to go from "largefiles" to "nolargeiles" (its a long story)

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Marc:

To do the largefiles conversion (in either direction) in the absence of OnlineJFS requires that the filesystem be unmounted.

From that standpoint, you can't unmount '/' or '/stand' so you can't convert either.
Besides, '/stand' is an HFS filesystem so whether or not you have OnlineJFS is immaterial, too.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Pete Randall]

Marc,

Judging from Bill's comments (and I've never known him to be wrong), I would say that the only way you're going to be able to convert is to re-create the file systems, and therefore, the whole system, from scratch. Maybe you could use Ignite, but I would just as soon start over and create the system properly.


Pete

[James R. Ferguson]

hI (again) Marc:

Ok, I just saw you second post.

First, if this vg00 configuration truly consists of only '/' and '/stand' then I'd make an Ignite recovery tape and re-ignite the server laying things back down into a standard distribution with standard mountpoints for stand logical volumes.

Second, why worry about 'nolargefiles'. Actually by adding the '-o nolargefiles' to 'etc/fstab' and rebooting you proved that (1) there were no largefiles in the filesystem. You wouldn't have been able to mount the filesystem otherwise!

Regards!

...JRF...

[Nguyen Anh Tien]

pls use -o option
fsadm -o nolargefiles /dev/vgname/lvolname

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi marc,

If you are still fearful to run the command that *might* corrupt your file system, you can proceed as follows:

1. Create a new file system with "nolargefiles" option
2. Move the data to that new file system
3. Drop the old file system
4. remount the new file system as you would like it to be..

hope this helps too!

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Marc Ahrendt]

pete: that is the main command needed ...others were needed like "umount" since no OnlineJFS

sandman: the command will fail as you state ...also it will not corrupt the file system when it fails (at least in my testing)

rick: no need to address /etc/fstab ...seems best not to from my testing

bill: your statement about no "un-convert" is not correct ...i was able to test successfully making a "largefiles" file system into a "nolargefiles" one (the trick is that it can be done if there exists no files larger than 2GB)

james: addressed the heart of my problem with the production system i am helping developers on

pete: now you have known him to be wrong ...just a comment, be cautious when taking advice from anyone even exceptional admins like bill as what commonly can happen is that someone like me does not communicate clearly the problem, or they do not read all the posted details, or whatever and then their information is misleading and/or just wrong (having said that i just about always take what "olympians" recommend as the answer)

james: Ignite is what i proposed ...thx

nguyen: thx

yogeeraj: your commands would work for some file system but not the one i am dealing with since its "/"