running xfs_repair on large partitions

running xfs_repair on large partitions

[Louis-David Mitterrand]

Hello,

1) it would be nice to have a way to know xfs_repair's version (-V ?), 
when using it from a rescue disk I'm never sure if I should get a newer 
one.

2) on a 32bit system, using xfsprogs version 2.9.0 , it seems xfs_repair 
will fail if its process exceeds 4G. Is that right? Is there a way to 
circumvent that limitation?

Thanks,

Re: running xfs_repair on large partitions

[Emmanuel Florac]

Le Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:33:38 +0200 vous écriviez:

> 1) it would be nice to have a way to know xfs_repair's version
> (-V ?), when using it from a rescue disk I'm never sure if I should
> get a newer one.

Did you try "xfs_repair -V" as you suggest? On my system, it replies
with the version...

> 2) on a 32bit system, using xfsprogs version 2.9.0 , it seems
> xfs_repair will fail if its process exceeds 4G. Is that right? Is
> there a way to circumvent that limitation?

No, this is precisely what 32 bits mean. A 32 bits process can't
address more than 2^32 bits, which is 4GB. However I'm
surprised you have this problem; I've xfs_repaired up to 16TB
filesystem (maximum manageable with a 32 bits kernel ) without such
problem.
-- 
Since we're all here, we must not be all there.
		-- Bob "Mountain" Beck

Re: running xfs_repair on large partitions

[David Chinner]

On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 07:14:52PM +0200, Emmanuel Florac wrote:
> Le Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:33:38 +0200 vous écriviez:
> 
> > 1) it would be nice to have a way to know xfs_repair's version (-V ?),
> > when using it from a rescue disk I'm never sure if I should get a newer
> > one.
> 
> Did you try "xfs_repair -V" as you suggest? On my system, it replies with
> the version...
> 
> > 2) on a 32bit system, using xfsprogs version 2.9.0 , it seems xfs_repair
> > will fail if its process exceeds 4G. Is that right? Is there a way to
> > circumvent that limitation?
> 
> No, this is precisely what 32 bits mean. A 32 bits process can't address
> more than 2^32 bits, which is 4GB.

I think it's 2GB for a process by default on linux, because the other 2GB
is used by the kernel. The split is configurable IIRC.

> However I'm surprised you have this
> problem; I've xfs_repaired up to 16TB filesystem (maximum manageable with a
> 32 bits kernel ) without such problem.

Memory usage depends on the number of inodes in the filesystem as well.

Cheers,

Dave.
-- 
Dave Chinner
Principal Engineer
SGI Australian Software Group