Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:02:10 +0200 From: "Patrick O'Reilly" <patrick@mip.co.za> To: "Nils Holland" <nils@tisys.org> Cc: "FreeBSD Question List" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Softupdates Message-ID: <NDBBIMKICMDGDMNOOCAIOENHDPAA.patrick@mip.co.za> In-Reply-To: <20011126144141.A6950-100000@jodie.ncptiddische.net>
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> From: nils@jodie.ncptiddische.net [mailto:nils@jodie.ncptiddische.net]On > Behalf Of Nils Holland > Sent: 26 November 2001 15:51 > > On Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Patrick O'Reilly wrote: > > > I've started using softupdates on a new server. Wow!!! > > > > Question: Is it safe to use softupdates on ALL disks? I have a nagging > > recollection that someone once said it should NOT be used on /. > > Without doubt, softupdates makes it likely that you would lose more data > in case of a power failure or (which is very rare under FreeBSD) a system > crash. There is actually no technical reason why softupdates should not be > enabled on /. It is only a recommendation that someone may have given, and > it's your job to decide if you want to follow that recommendation or not. > > On my own systems, I have softupdates enabled for everything, including /. > There have not been any problems so far, while performance has obviously > increased compared to softupdates turned off. In order to protect myself > from the increased chance of data loss, I keep regular backups, which is a > good idea anyway. > > One more thing that happens in conjunction with softupdates is the > following: If you have softupdates turned on for /usr, have a look at df > -h before you empty /usr/obj (or any other big directory) the next time. > Right after the directory has been emptied, do df -h again. Then wait a > minute and do even one more df -h. You will notice that the updating of > the free space on your filesystems gets delayed with softupdates turned > on. This may mean that under heavy file creation activities, your > filesystem may already be full before it's actually visible that it's > full, i.e. before the accountig information have been updated. However, I > don't think that this should keep you from turning softupdated on for /. > > All in all I think you can safely turn softupdates on for /. > > Greetings > Nils > Nils, thanks for that explanation - that's pretty much the way I understood it - but it is good to have confirmation. Regards, Patrick. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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