From owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 24 21:29:26 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6DFD916A421 for ; Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:29:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bp@eden.barryp.org) Received: from eden.barryp.org (host-42-60-230-24.midco.net [24.230.60.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4823313C469 for ; Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:29:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bp@eden.barryp.org) Received: from macbook.home ([10.66.1.10]) by eden.barryp.org with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.67 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1IZupA-000MQz-61; Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:46:36 -0500 Message-ID: <46F82227.5090302@barryp.org> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:46:31 -0500 From: Barry Pederson User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (Macintosh/20070728) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Randy Bush References: <46F7EDD7.6060904@psg.com> In-Reply-To: <46F7EDD7.6060904@psg.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: bp@eden.barryp.org Cc: freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: zfs in production? X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:29:26 -0000 Randy Bush wrote: > we are thinking of using zfs on a production server, using gmirror for > booting and then following http://wiki.freebsd.org/ZFSOnRoot for the rest. > > but we would like to hear from folk using zfs in production for any > length of time, as we do not really have the resources to be pioneers. > > thanks. > > randy I've setup a few machines now using a CompactFlash device for booting, plugged straight into the motherboard with a CF-IDE adapter, and then having zfs-on-root with the actual harddisks 100% controlled by ZFS (no gmirror or slices otherwise). One machine is zfs-mirror and the other is 8-disk raidz2. The CF hardware is ony $30 or so, and it's nice not to have to deal with two different mirroring systems. A bonus is that CF devices are so large nowadays, that it's convenient just have a complete installation of FreeBSD on it and be able to use it as an emergency recovery system just by entering "vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:ad0s1a" at the loader. I've also found it works to name the disks using glabel and add disks to the pool using the glabel names, to eliminate uncertainty as to which disk exactly you're offlining or seeing errors from (especially with SAS-connected drives where the /dev/da name doesn't correspond with a particular physical port). Barry