Q: UFS vs ADVfs on /

From: Stephen Dowdy <dowdy_at_cs.colorado.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 13:14:07 -0700 (MST)

Howdy,

I am looking at the advantages/disadvantages of using ADVfs on root (/)
on DUNIX v4.0D.

Specifically, i have in the past done:
        rz0a / on UFS (128MB)
        rz0g (rest of boot disk) on ADVfs domain "sys" holding
                /usr, /var, /local, /tmp
One of the researchers is proposing going to:
        rz0a = entire disk on ADVfs (domain = "sys") holding
                /, /usr, /var, /local, /tmp

As i see it:

UFS:
   Advantages:
        can have the advfs tools to fix a damaged advfs domain available
        in my experience, has proven more reliable (fewer catastrophic
          failures in my environment) than ADVfs
   Disadvantage:
        slower than ADVfs
        not expandable for holding lots of kernels for testing, etc.

ADVfs:
   Advantages:
        faster
        no UFS static partition size limit
        OS updates requiring larger / don't need re-partitioning of boot disk
   Disadvantage:
        if munged, need separate boot disk to fix
        any known bootrom handling problems (i have systems dating back to
                3000/[346]00)

I also think this scheme may suffer somewhat from limitations imposed on
the / filesystem in terms of making my entire "sys" domain not allowing
volume chaining (i rarely have to do this anyway, though). And am
not even sure you can have multiple non-root filesets in a boot/root
filedomain?

So, i'm basically looking for comments from people who have run an ADVfs
root, and what problems they've had or good experiences they've come
away with. Comments related to doing this under v4.0 are of course most
meaningful.

Thanks,
--stephen
--
Stephen Dowdy - Systems Administrator - CS Dept - Univ of Colorado, Boulder
dowdy_at_cs.colorado.edu - 303-492-6196 - http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~dowdy/
"Team Spam Forever" (A division of Beatrice)    { NO cold Sales Calls !!! }
Received on Thu Feb 12 1998 - 21:14:19 NZDT

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