Re: ext4 state user question

[Christian Fischer <Christian.Fischer@easterngraphics.com>]

On Saturday 22 August 2009, Eric Sandeen wrote:
> Christian Fischer wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have not found a ext4-user list or something similar, that's why my
> > user question goes to this development list.
>
> I think user questions are fine here, but thanks for asking.  :)
>
> > I had a lot of file system crashes with xfs the last time, Eric knows
> > that, if he remembers.
> >
> > I look for an alternate file system for our new production servers, and I
> > need to use 2.6.29.4 for the moment due to all systems running on xen,
> > and as far as I know 2.6.29.4 xen patched ist the best solution at the
> > moment.
> >
> > I've updated all xen kernels from 2.6.18 (which is the latest official
> > xen kernel) to 2.6.29.4 because xfs tried to write to the superblock to
> > run into the next bug, a radix_tree problem with xfs over nfs. I've
> > backported 2.6.30 patches to avoid the problem, that runs at the moment.
> >
> > But I don't feel like waiting for the next crash.
> >
> > I was never before as unshure as now which file system is to choose, IMO
> > I have the choice between zfs on solaris, xfs or ext4.
> > Zfs is not really ported to linux, the stable time of xfs seems gone, and
> > ext4 is relatively young.

Thanks Eric for the fast reply.

>
> I think the xfs problems are sorted; you hit a bad spot, but Christoph
> got it worked out.

Hmm, bad spot, I use xfs for years on a lot of servers, never any other, and 
that because of its stability, and its robustness in case of harware 
failures. Never had any problems. I got gray hairs last time.

>
> > What do you think, is ext4 with 2.6.29.4 ready for productive work and to
> > prefer over xfs at the moment?
>
> As for ext4, I don't know of any current problems that would stop you
> from using it for this purpose.  But had you asked about xfs a month ago
> I would have said the same thing.  :)  I can say that ext4 is the
> default for F11, and I have had very few bug reports from users.

I use ext4dev since it came up on my thinkpad, it runs. Good to hear your 
statement.

What do you think about 2.6.29?
Is it okay or should I wait until I can use a xen patched 2.6.31?

>
> All software has bugs, unfortunately, though we do our best.  In the
> end, testing in your environment is the only way to know for sure what
> best suits your needs, I think.

I know, we are in the business. But please not on my main servers ;-)

Christian
>
> -Eric
>
> > Best Regards
> > Christian
>
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