From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Aug 8 02:30:56 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id CAA25871 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:30:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from parkplace.cet.co.jp (parkplace.cet.co.jp [202.32.64.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id CAA25865 for ; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 02:30:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (michaelh@localhost) by parkplace.cet.co.jp (8.7.5/CET-v2.1) with SMTP id JAA13518; Thu, 8 Aug 1996 09:30:47 GMT Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 18:30:47 +0900 (JST) From: Michael Hancock To: Mark Powell cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Linux async vs. FreeBSD sync In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk The FFS careful synchronous does have performance penalties, but I think we agree that the data integrity it provides is more important. FFS also takes pains to write to the disk intelligently leading to better recoverability and less fragmentation. Mike Hancock On 8 Aug 1996, Mark Powell wrote: > A lot has been said about this recently. However, I've used both systems > alot and had only ever noticed Linux's "feel of speed" as far as the > filesystem is concerned. I recently installed Linux on an Adaptec 7880 > chipset based motherboard. Apart from having to go around the houses to > even install Linux on such a system (I eventually used redhat with the > *unsupported* 1.3.57 kernel) I really discovered the benefits of the sync > system. I've been running FreeBSD for around 9 months on a 7880 based > chipset and got regular SCSI hangs when the bus was put under load (this > is fixed since around June 8th.) However, I never noticed *any* loss of > data from any of these crashes. With the linux system I experienced the > same scsi bus hangs during rebuilds of the newer Linux kernel 2.0.11. > Nearly every single time the linux box hung I completely lost the filesystem. > One the occasions that fsck would even fix the damn thing I'd find I'd > lost /etc/passwd, login etc. etc. I eventually got the new kernel > built by slowing down the build. Now I have the latest scsi code in there > I still mount all the filesystems under Linux synchronous. > Linux installs are a damn pain. Redhat requires *three* floppy disks for > it's install, whereas I only ever use one for FreeBSD. BTW Any chance of > BOOTP/DHCP in the install program, that'd be a real treat. > Anyway, thought I'd just let you know of my positive experience with > FreeBSD. Keep up the good work. I'll save Linux for play and the FreeBSD > for the serious work. (I was only installing Linux to play xquake. Now > someone tells me FreeBSD-2.2 will run it arrrrgh!!) > -- > Mark Powell - Senior Network Technician - Room: C806 > Computer Services Unit, University College Salford, Salford, Manchester, UK. > Tel: +44 161 745 3376 Fax: +44 161 736 3596 > Email: mark@ucsalf.ac.uk finger mark@ucsalf.ac.uk (for PGP key) > Home Page > -- michaelh@cet.co.jp http://www.cet.co.jp CET Inc., Daiichi Kasuya BLDG 8F 2-5-12, Higashi Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105 Japan Tel: +81-3-3437-1761 Fax: +81-3-3437-1766