On Thu, 20 Dec 2007, Richard Elling wrote:
> Ross wrote:
>> Aye, that's what I was hoping for. Since ZFS seems to support nesting
>> filesystems, I was hoping that each filesystem would contain the others, so
>> a snapshot of the root filesystem would also be a snapshot of the others.
>>
>
> IMHO, a file system is created only when you need to change its policies.
> For example, I might want a read-only file system and a compressed file
> system, so I would make two file systems. If you want the same policies
> for each file system, you'd be better off using directories. Continuing
> the policies decision, one of the policies may be backup frequency (I
> really don't care to backup my music every day, but I would like to
> backup my home directory every day).
[Hi Richard]
Mostly agreed .... but.... { There's always a "but" right? :) }
The issue is that one can't see into the future. And since ZFS
behavior is largely tied to the level of the ZFS filesystem, it makes
sense to "err" on the side of creating more filesystems than
necessary, rather than the opposite (using sub-directories). To
clarify: today your advice is accurate because we know - just to list
a few - of certain ZFS characteristics like, compression, snapshots
etc.; but we *don't* know what new ZFS features/facilities might be
introduced in the near *and* far terms. So my recommendation is to
"err" on the side of creating "extra" filesystems. With this
recommendation its easy to collapse extra filesystem into
sub-directories - but not the opposite way around. Especially when
you consider snapshots.
And ZFS is still very "young" on the overall development lifecycle;
who knows what clever features/facilities will be dreamed up next.
Bear in mind, that if someone had told me I'd be running the ZFS
features facilites that are already available today (either through
Solaris or OpenSolaris b78 - including ZFS boot) I would have thought
that they were on drugs! :)
..... snip .....
Regards,
Al Hopper Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134 Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Apr 2005 to Mar 2007
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/ogb/ogb_2005-2007/
Graduate from "sugar-coating school"? Sorry - I never attended! :)
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