From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 10 01:28:08 2010 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 579A81065670 for ; Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:28:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from npratt@gmail.com) Received: from mail-wy0-f182.google.com (mail-wy0-f182.google.com [74.125.82.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E13BA8FC13 for ; Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:28:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wyj26 with SMTP id 26so13326550wyj.13 for ; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:28:06 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:received:in-reply-to :references:date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=8M1zQxMWMURl6szO9khO1pwYPbDyFdFy3QRjy2E/Ryk=; b=YNTHpeocFrImmm/JmDBi2xVGzaWKkK56a+03V/UUH7cD8XM3riHdtmORqGboO2zyPf IlrA9hyyRy3mqB4uR8BNKbjNfkbMImCd/dPSLbCOjTz6bwYmevtxrAjBH2Ww/MhY1mSM iIm2DQNuhlGBE/xN/eE2sz+Gszh/ScxtSp0lw= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=bc17m6W+bmGBb2MUQ7dczBGbsNgKDcZ98cFBis3zSRgAiCXyi9kUoPv8q20nyMO1U7 qR1lpNAzpzg2u1tO4/hT8WngIAyL5wPvUJxAACC47VVByPre/Nu/B8DY2gpYNnrlsfAt xJ4qLkFDrCPSoBC2MpGrXskTd+dPN1mKhXLZ0= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.0.10 with SMTP id 10mr3314239wea.12.1281403686677; Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:28:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.216.50.9 with HTTP; Mon, 9 Aug 2010 18:28:06 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 18:28:06 -0700 Message-ID: From: Noah Pratt To: Ed Flecko Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ZFS practical application? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:28:08 -0000 On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 3:40 PM, Ed Flecko wrote: > Hi folks, > I've been reading about the ZFS file system, and I'm having a hard > time understanding maybe the most practical business application(s)? > > I think I understand a little bit about it (from a conceptual > perspective) that it's a self-healing 128 bit filesystem, better data > integrity checking, etc. > > I have a small business (< 50 end users) and I'm wondering perhaps > some examples that you might think would be most applicable for a > FreeBSD server(s) and the ZFS filesystem? > > One of the things that seems like might be a detriment as well as an > asset, is it's ability to expand as necessary, but then I'm wondering > what prevents the filesystem from just "running away"? > > Are there any sites out there with perhaps a more laymen's explanation of ZFS? > > Comments? > > Thank you, > Ed ZFS filesystems can grow automatically within the space allocated to the pool, but you control the pool. You also get fine-grained control via quotas. Sun's docs are a good starting point: http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-5461/gbcik Also read the parts about snapshots and zfs send: http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/819-5461/gavvx What are your users running? Here's one of my favorites: http://blogs.sun.com/GregB/entry/using_zfs_to_protect_ntfs -Noah