From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 16 15:37:19 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC1B01065679 for ; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [212.17.241.230]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EB058FC1F for ; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.1/8.14.1) with ESMTP id m5GF8mjD099644; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:08:48 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.1/8.14.1/Submit) id m5GF8mtJ099643; Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:08:48 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from olli) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:08:48 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <200806161508.m5GF8mtJ099643@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <20080611213343.D31099@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-questions User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/6.2-STABLE-20070808 (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:08:49 +0200 (CEST) Cc: Subject: Re: FreeBSD + ZFS on a production server? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:19 -0000 Just a small hint: You should configure your MUA to produce proper attribution lines. Wojciech Puchar wrote: > Oliver Fromme wrote: > > A broken processor usually results in random crashes, not > > silent data corruption. > > result in both in my practice. with broken companion chips (chipset) it's > silent data corruption is common, while crashes can be under specific > cases. that's from what i've got. I've never had a broken processor that did not result in crashes, but maybe I've been just lucky. :-) > > > or even calculate checksum right of wrong data generated by badly > > > operating programs. > > > > What do you mean, wrong data generated by programs? If > > wrong data generated by program because of hardware problem. In that case the input to the program would have to be bad already. A broken disk (or controller) doesn't cause a program to produce wrong output, unless it feeds bad input to the program. And ZFS would catch that. > > You usually notice it when it's too late and the last > > good backup media was already recycled. > > not that bad, but of course - i make backups. But you don't keep every backup forever, do you? (I.e. it would rather be an archive instead of a backup. That would cost a lot of space.) > > In my case it was a disk with media surface errors, and > > the disk failed to report the error properly to the OS. > > Instead it just returned bad data. > > so i am just happy to never having it, while normal disk failures are > quite common.. Yes, fortunately "normal" disk failures (i.e. reported to the OS so they are clearly noticed) are more common than silent corruption. > > > ZFS may help detect it, or it may not. if it helped for you. > > > > Please stop spreading FUD. There is no "may or may not". > > If a disk returns bad data, ZFS _will_ detect it. > > please read more carefully. i didn't say it. You did. I quoted it. > i just say that "disk returning bad data" is very rare case, Yes, fortunately it is rare. But it does happen. And when it happens, ou are in very serious trouble. For example, on the -stable list Goran Lowkrantz reported on Saturday a corruption on one of his file systems due to a flipped bit in a directory node. He didn't use ZFS, but was lucky to notice the problem because of strange size entries in that directory. He had to use fsdb(8) surgery to fix it. Personally I would recommend to not use that disk anymore, because you never know in what other files bits could be flipped, without you noticing so easily. Well, or use ZFS on that disk -- then you're guaranteed to notice. > lots of > other - more frequent - hardware problems will not be detected. That's speculative. Personally I don't think so. > if you like to give lots of CPU power and disk bandwidth for calculation You're spreading FUD again. The cpu time required for generating and verifying the checksums is very low, and the disk bandwidth is almost zero. > i just say it doesn't make lot of protection against bad hardware, not > worth the expense. Well, if the integrity of your files isn't important to you ... Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "That's what I love about GUIs: They make simple tasks easier, and complex tasks impossible." -- John William Chambless