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Date:      Wed, 5 Aug 2020 09:47:40 -0400
From:      Karl Denninger <karl@denninger.net>
To:        Bob Friesenhahn <bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us>
Cc:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: zfs scrub enable by default
Message-ID:  <180eeb29-3cd8-efbd-41fe-97df8fd78ccc@denninger.net>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.GSO.2.20.2008050808330.10299@scrappy.simplesystems.org>
References:  <cca34d1a-1892-41ec-ce45-84865100c6e1@FreeBSD.org> <CAJjvXiEXEdAFXpXkGvt4fymA17kNdp6XkZV5taGKLoP2GvMHbw@mail.gmail.com> <d1b580da-1539-5fc9-f7a3-3f013bba4ef3@FreeBSD.org> <CANCZdfq2PneFvB4rnz2iGu5srFFFjs8N=7FwRO3DYjosESWXtQ@mail.gmail.com> <CAGuotKD0mCS3KmMA-EGL1uH_fByYOhMKbPVDoTdB8dg5kC-u9g@mail.gmail.com> <105090343.294898.1596586694925.JavaMail.zimbra@gray.id.au> <alpine.GSO.2.20.2008042010300.10299@scrappy.simplesystems.org> <e5e7a916-4da2-6467-1616-1b1a75f32509@denninger.net> <alpine.GSO.2.20.2008050808330.10299@scrappy.simplesystems.org>

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On 8/5/2020 09:15, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Aug 2020, Karl Denninger wrote:
>
>> Let me give you two allegedly "degenerate" cases that are actually=20
>> not degenerate at all.
>>
>> 1. A laptop or workstation.=C2=A0 It is backed up.=C2=A0 It uses ZFS b=
ecause=20
>> it's faster, and I can establish a filesystem for some project very=20
>> easily and quickly, it's segregated, I can work on it and destroy it=20
>> trivially when done.=C2=A0 I can set quotas on that, etc.=C2=A0 If I w=
ant to=20
>> move its mountpoint, I can trivially do so. And so on.=C2=A0 Note that=
=20
>> here there is no redundancy at all; no raidZx, no mirroring, etc.=C2=A0=
=20
>> I'm merely using it for convenience.
>
> Did you remember to set copies=3D2 or copies=3D3 for zfs filesystems wh=
ere=20
> you hope not to experience data loss?=C2=A0 It needs to be set as soon =
as=20
> possible since it only applies to new files.=C2=A0 This is a way to get=
=20
> more media redundancy, although the whole drive may fail.
>
> Zfs scrub is not going to protect your precious data from loss given=20
> just one drive unless you increase the copies setting.=C2=A0 Zfs itself=
=20
> already uses redundant copies for its own data structures.
>
copies=3D2 does nothing if the drive itself fails (as opposed to a handfu=
l=20
of sectors failing on said drive.)

SSDs rarely lose a block undetected by their own controller.=20
More-commonly when they fail they fail HARD and the entire volume=20
becomes inaccessible immediately.=C2=A0 The same is frequently (but less =

frequently than with an SSD) true for spinning rust.=C2=A0 In my experien=
ce=20
with various "non-removable" spinning rust going back to the original=20
5Mb winchester devices in a decent percentage of the instances the=20
device becomes either completely inaccessible all at once or it may as=20
well be since the unreadable sectors are numerous enough and the=20
timeouts on attempted reads long enough that recovery of the=20
non-impacted data will frequently take days (or worse.)

Don't even get me started on controller/adapter failures.=C2=A0 I've had =
two=20
in my career that scribbled on everything connected to them at once.=C2=A0=
=20
Even ZFS in a RaidZx or mirrored configuration won't protect you from=20
that.=C2=A0 You either have backups or you have nothing.

As I said, a workstation or laptop is, in such a configuration, backed=20
up to some other storage (external, either plugged in or on a network)=20
and if the drive fails it is replaced and restored. ZFS makes this easy=20
to do and also quite economical in terms of time and either storage or=20
network bandwidth with its snapshot capability.

The latter is also a reason to use ZFS standing alone, irrespective of=20
redundancy of data storage.

I've had scrub catch incipient errors (but you have to look at the stats =

to know it found and fixed the blocks) before the volume failed and was=20
able to replace the bad volume before it puked entirely.=C2=A0 I apprecia=
te=20
that when it happens but the point here is that turning on automated=20
scrubs is like automated patrol reads on an old-style RAID adapter; it=20
sounds great right up until it can cause trouble without benefit.=C2=A0 T=
o=20
have it as an option in the installer is a good thing, but to silently=20
turn it on, especially if it's done during an upgrade where it wasn't on =

before, is IMHO a bad thing as it has at least a decent probability of=20
producing unpleasant surprises.

--=20
Karl Denninger
karl@denninger.net <mailto:karl@denninger.net>
/The Market Ticker/
/[S/MIME encrypted email preferred]/

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