Reiserfs et al

[swestrup]

So, as I type this entry, the raid5 on webigail is resynching. Not sure how it got OUT of sync, but that seems to be the last thing to fix before bringing the server back up. It appears that the reason it stopped booting was a minor (and trivially correctable) bit of file corruption on the main raid partition. Still this is the second time in as many weeks that we've had integrity problems with Reiserfs. I'm beginning to think that those (like pphaneuf) who advised that it isn't ready for prime time may be right.

On the other hand, the server worked flawlessly for the two previous years, so I'm not sure if this latest glitch is really Reiser's fault. It may be that I have some sort of version skew or something in my current distribution that has introduced an instability. (I had to recently update half-a-dozen libraries in order to fix a problem, and should now upgrade everything to the same level -- I've just been waiting to have an up-to-date backup first).

Anyway, if I DO decide to junk Reiserfs in favor of something else, what should it be? Two years ago, there were stability issues with ext3 and it was a lousy performer, which is why I avoided it. I have since heard lots of good things about XFS as well, but don't know anyone who has had practical experience with it.

So, any suggestions? I would like to use a journalling filesystem, and I would like it to be fast, robust, and stable. What do folks think?

Comments

[cpirate.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall reading an article a little while ago saying that most old Reiser-vs-ext3 comparisons were a bit skewed by ext3 using some ultra-conservative defaults, and Reiser using some ultra-non-conservative defaults so it was faster - trading stability for speed. I, of course, can't remember a reference to save my life, but you might be able to find a link to a sensible comparison article that would be more informative than my random insinuations.

As for random insinuations, I'm of the opinion that ext3 is a very stable and robust choice, and probably fast enough. All the other filesystems scare me due to complexity - I don't need XFS's guaranteed bandwidth reservations, for instance, but it might cause bugs anyway.

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

Well, ext3 isn't exactly lousy. See this very recent post by Tim Bray, the author of Bonnie (the filesystem benchmark tool). He's admitting the conditions weren't perfectly uniform, but still: "In this test, Reiser is a little faster at writing data, a little slower at reading it, a little faster at random seeking, and burns a little more CPU. But for the stuff that Bonnie measures, it’s pretty well a wash."