From owner-freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Fri Aug 28 00:12:56 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2B2219C4930 for ; Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:12:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from quartz@sneakertech.com) Received: from douhisi.pair.com (douhisi.pair.com [209.68.5.179]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0A2E81BDE for ; Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:12:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from quartz@sneakertech.com) Received: from [10.2.2.1] (pool-173-48-121-235.bstnma.fios.verizon.net [173.48.121.235]) by douhisi.pair.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 18D023F726 for ; Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:12:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <55DFA786.8090809@sneakertech.com> Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:12:54 -0400 From: Quartz MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Options for zfs inside a VM backed by zfs on the host References: <20150827061044.GA10221@blazingdot.com> <20150827062015.GA10272@blazingdot.com> <1a6745e27d184bb99eca7fdbdc90c8b5@SERVER.ad.usd-group.com> <55DF46F5.4070406@redbarn.org> <453A5A6F-E347-41AE-8CBC-9E0F4DA49D38@ccsys.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:12:56 -0000 > I am right now exploring the question: are SSD ZILs necessary in an all SSD > pool? Something mentioned in another recent thread on this list (or maybe it was -questions?) was that yes, you really should consider a separate ZIL if you're using primarily SSDs. Without a separate disk, log writes have to steal blocks from the pool itself which then have to be deleted afterwards to let go of the space. Besides causing excess file fragmentation, the write-delete cycle doesn't play well with SSDs and trim and can seriously hamper performance. With a dedicated disk, it writes and then just leaves it there, only overwriting later if necessary.