hfs or vxfs

[Darren Murray_1]

Currently have a system running 10.20 with HFS file systems. Will there be any performance benefit with converting those to VXFS file systems.

I know that there is better recovery with VXFS file systems.

Cheers
Darren

[Rajeev Shukla · Accepted solution]

Yes, definately, faster recovery is one, when a system crashes, it vxfs will recovery very fast and you would get a better performance too on vxfs. Easier to manage with add-on products like online JFS you can resize u'r filesystem online. And many more benifits.

[Norman_21]

Definately vxfs. in versions HP-UX 10.20 and higher the recommended files systems type is vxfs for all root file systems except /stand which can be either vxfs or hfs. recommended is hfs for /stand

/ vxfs
/stand hfs
/tmp vxfs
/home vxf
/opt vxfs
/usr vxfs
/var vxfs

Good luck

[Steven E. Protter]

Yes. Huge benefit. Journaled filesystems are better than HFS. The do better after crashes.

You can not convert /stand, because the kernel can not load off a vxfs filesystem.

There may be others in 10.20 that should not be converted. You are going to have to check that out before proceeding.

Unless your applications have an issue(check!!!) you an convert any filesystem outside of vg00.

SEP

[Michael Tully]

VxFs is definitely better, not just from a recovery point of view, but also speed. HFS is bordering on ancient technology. VxFs has a number of different options for filesystem handling and recovery. The OnLine JFS component (although optional) is a great product that provides performance enhancements. Don't forget that 10.20 is not actually supported anymore. If you have support contracts, you should really look to moving up 11 or even 11i.

[Darren Murray_1]

Steve,

The conversion from HFS to VXFS is that to remove the volume and then recreate as VXFS or is there are way of doing with out destroying the data.

Cheers
Darren

[Michael Tully]

There is no way of converting from one to the other or vice/versa. You can *only* backup the data, trash the HFS logical volume(s), create a new VxFS logical volume/filesystem and recover the data. As stated before /stand *must* be a HFS filesystem, the hp-ux kernel will not boot from a VxFS filesystem, although I am sure that this shortcoming is being looked in a new release of the operating system.

[James Murtagh]

Although its not applicable here as you are on 10.20, there is a new feature with Online JFS on JFS 3.3 - vxfsconvert - that will convert an hfs filesystem to vxfs version 4 layout. Itanium releases support vxfs as the boot fileystem. An introduction to vxfs on 10.20 can be found in this document :

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90672/B2355-90672.html

[Norman_21]

Maybe if you create a Recovery Tape, boot off that tape interactively and then you'll have the ability to change the file system type! Backup any data if you have some in the root file systems.

Micheal is totally right about that /stand must be hfs since it has the kernel stored in it...

[Darren Murray_1]

What kind of percent increase would you think could be achieved with moving to VXFS? I realize it maybe hard to say but just a guesstimate is fine.

[James Murtagh]

Hi Darren,

To theorise could take pages but there is plenty of information on the web and on the forum regarding the respective performance attributes. However, I would suggest you simply test both using your normal applications and workload. Some basic testing of my own....I've created two 1GB filesystems on a J-Class workstation, 11i, one vxfs version 4, one hfs. I then performed two different tests - the first is a prealloc of an 800MB file to each filesystem, the next is a copy of 407MB of data from another directory tree containing nearly 13000 files. The results :

prealloc :

vxfs : 30.14 secs
hfs : 39.89

copy :

vxfs : 1.08.60
hfs : 2.41.48

On 10.20 the results may be slightly closer and there is not as much scope for tuning as on later releases but this may give you some basic idea. If you have anything specific in mind let me know.

cheers,

James.

[Norman_21]

Darren,

I have found this document in the knowledge base. It explains "How do I convert my HFS filesystem to an VXFS filesystem"
You must have a current backup of HFS file systems!
http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000063238110

Here is a manual from the knowledge base too, "Performance benefits comparison of JFS and HFS"
http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000062952511
For more information, refer to chapter 4, "Working with HP-UX File
Systems", in the manual "HP-UX System Administration Tasks", HP Part
No. B2355-90079.

Hope this help.