too many files in a directory
My Cyrus 2.2.13 server (Debian stable) is running on an ext3 filesystem. One folder contains so many files that it keeps exceeding the limit ext3 can cope with (or at least, more than the directory index can handle). I've been able to recover with e2fsck (I don't know if it rebalances the tree or makes more room), but clearly need to do something else. I have a narrow question and a broader one. Narrowly, if I create some other folders and move some of the messages into them, will it help? My understanding is that cyrus tries to avoid copying or moving message files around on disk, and so I suspect the files will continue to take up space in the original directory even if I move them. More broadly, any other suggestions for dealing with this situation? I'm also having very slow backup times, I think the result of the long time it takes to traverse the directory. I might go to reiser3, which I used successfully on a different system. I thought the reiser file system seemed like a bad long-term bet after the architect was jailed for murder. But I see from the archives that people are still using it and having good experiences. Thanks for any advice. Ross P.S. For the record, the failures do not lose any messages; they result in messages going to my main inbox when there's an error on attempted delivery to the subfolder. Cyrus Home Page: http://www.cyrusimap.org/ List Archives/Info: http://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/pipermail/info-cyrus/
Re: too many files in a directory
On Fri, 5 Nov 2010, Ross Boylan wrote: My Cyrus 2.2.13 server (Debian stable) is running on an ext3 filesystem. One folder contains so many files that it keeps exceeding the limit ext3 can cope with (or at least, more than the directory index can handle). I've been able to recover with e2fsck (I don't know if it rebalances the tree or makes more room), but clearly need to do something else. I have a narrow question and a broader one. Narrowly, if I create some other folders and move some of the messages into them, will it help? My understanding is that cyrus tries to avoid copying or moving message files around on disk, and so I suspect the files will continue to take up space in the original directory even if I move them. if you copy them to the new folder, delete them from the old folder, and expunge them, then the directory slots will be freed up. I don't think that ext3 will actually shrink the directory, but it will re-use these available slots for new files. More broadly, any other suggestions for dealing with this situation? I'm also having very slow backup times, I think the result of the long time it takes to traverse the directory. I might go to reiser3, which I used successfully on a different system. I thought the reiser file system seemed like a bad long-term bet after the architect was jailed for murder. But I see from the archives that people are still using it and having good experiences. this is why I use XFS instead of ext3 :-) ext4 is also better, but it's new enough that I don't use it for anything critical yet. Thanks for any advice. Ross P.S. For the record, the failures do not lose any messages; they result in messages going to my main inbox when there's an error on attempted delivery to the subfolder. probably what's happening is that something is taking long enough that the delivery to the subfolder 'fails' and it falls back to delivering to the main inbox instead. how many files do you have in the problem folders? David Lang Cyrus Home Page: http://www.cyrusimap.org/ List Archives/Info: http://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/pipermail/info-cyrus/
Re: too many files in a directory
Thanks for your reply. On 11/5/2010 6:18 PM, David Lang wrote: I have a narrow question and a broader one. Narrowly, if I create some other folders and move some of the messages into them, will it help? My understanding is that cyrus tries to avoid copying or moving message files around on disk, and so I suspect the files will continue to take up space in the original directory even if I move them. if you copy them to the new folder, are you talking about a filesystem copy, or a copy via imap? delete them from the old folder, and expunge them, then the directory slots will be freed up. I don't think that ext3 will actually shrink the directory, but it will re-use these available slots for new files. [deleted stuff on XFS] Yes, I noticed XFS seems to have quite a few people with good experiences. That's another one I might consider. I was a little reluctant because I've also seen (not in this list) people saying it ate their data. Of course, a lot of people said that about reiserfs too, and probably every other file system... Ross Cyrus Home Page: http://www.cyrusimap.org/ List Archives/Info: http://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/pipermail/info-cyrus/
Re: too many files in a directory
On Fri, 5 Nov 2010, Ross Boylan wrote: Thanks for your reply. On 11/5/2010 6:18 PM, David Lang wrote: I have a narrow question and a broader one. Narrowly, if I create some other folders and move some of the messages into them, will it help? My understanding is that cyrus tries to avoid copying or moving message files around on disk, and so I suspect the files will continue to take up space in the original directory even if I move them. if you copy them to the new folder, are you talking about a filesystem copy, or a copy via imap? copy via imap. you really don't want to go mucking around on the filesystem under cyrus. Reserv that for emergancies ;-) delete them from the old folder, and expunge them, then the directory slots will be freed up. I don't think that ext3 will actually shrink the directory, but it will re-use these available slots for new files. [deleted stuff on XFS] Yes, I noticed XFS seems to have quite a few people with good experiences. That's another one I might consider. I was a little reluctant because I've also seen (not in this list) people saying it ate their data. Of course, a lot of people said that about reiserfs too, and probably every other file system... the other thing to look at is _when_it ate their data. like linux, most filesystems are under continuing development. If XFS ate their data 5+ years ago, so many improvements have gone in thatI wouldn't care. If they say it ate their data last year, I would be worried. David Lang Cyrus Home Page: http://www.cyrusimap.org/ List Archives/Info: http://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/pipermail/info-cyrus/
