btrfs-progs/Documentation/btrfs-balance.asciidoc

btrfs-balance(8)
================

NAME
----
btrfs-balance - balance block groups on a btrfs filesystem

SYNOPSIS
--------
*btrfs balance* <subcommand> <args>

DESCRIPTION
-----------
The primary purpose of the balance feature is to spread block groups accross
all devices so they match constraints defined by the respective profiles. See
`mkfs.btrfs`(8) section 'PROFILES' for more details.
The scope of the balancing process can be further tuned by use of filters that
can select the block groups to process. Balance works only on a mounted
filesystem.

The balance operation is cancellable by the user. The on-disk state of the
filesystem is always consistent so an unexpected interruption (eg. system crash,
reboot) does not corrupt the filesystem. The progress of the balance operation
is temporarily stored and will be resumed upon mount, unless the mount option
'skip_balance' is specified.

WARNING: running balance without filters will take a lot of time as it basically
rewrites the entire filesystem and needs to update all block pointers.

The filters can be used to perform following actions:

- convert block group profiles (filter 'convert')
- make block group usage more compact  (filter 'usage')
- perform actions only on a given device (filters 'devid', 'drange')

The filters can be applied to a combination of block group types (data,
metadata, system). Note that changing 'system' needs the force option.

NOTE: the balance operation needs enough work space, ie. space that is
completely unused in the filesystem, otherwise this may lead to ENOSPC reports.
See the section 'ENOSPC' for more details.

COMPATIBILITY
-------------

NOTE: The balance subcommand also exists under the *btrfs filesystem*
namespace. This still works for backward compatibility but is deprecated and
should not be used anymore.

NOTE: A short syntax *btrfs balance <path>* works due to backward compatibility
but is deprecated and should not be used anymore. Use *btrfs balance start*
command instead.

SUBCOMMAND
----------
*cancel* <path>::
cancel running or paused balance

*pause* <path>::
pause running balance operation, this will store the state of the balance
progress and used filters to the filesystem

*resume* <path>::
resume interrupted balance

*start* [options] <path>::
start the balance operation according to the specified filters, no filters
will rewrite the entire filesystem. The process runs in the foreground.
+
`Options`
+
-d[<filters>]::::
act on data block groups, see `FILTERS` section for details about 'filters'
-m[<filters>]::::
act on metadata chunks, see `FILTERS` section for details about 'filters'
-s[<filters>]::::
act on system chunks (requires '-f'), see `FILTERS` section for details about 'filters'.
-v::::
be verbose and print balance filter arguments
-f::::
force reducing of metadata integrity, eg. when going from 'raid1' to 'single'

*status* [-v] <path>::
Show status of running or paused balance.
+
If '-v' option is given, output will be verbose.

FILTERS
-------
From kernel 3.3 onwards, btrfs balance can limit its action to a subset of the
full filesystem, and can be used to change the replication configuration (e.g.
moving data from single to RAID1). This functionality is accessed through the
'-d', '-m' or '-s' options to btrfs balance start, which filter on data,
metadata and system blocks respectively.

A filter has the following structure: 'type'[='params'][,'type'=...]

The available types are:

*profiles=<profiles>*::
Balances only block groups with the given profiles. Parameters
are a list of profile names separated by "'|'" (pipe).

*usage=<percent>*::
*usage=<range>*::
Balances only block groups with usage under the given percentage. The
value of 0 is allowed and will clean up completely unused block groups, this
should not require any new work space allocated. You may want to use 'usage=0'
in case balance is returning ENOSPC and your filesystem is not too full.
+
The argument may be a single value or a range. The single value 'N' means 'at
most N percent used', equivalent to '..N' range syntax. Kernels prior to 4.4
accept only the single value format.
The minimum range boundary is inclusive, maximum is exclusive.

*devid=<id>*::
Balances only block groups which have at least one chunk on the given
device. To list devices with ids use *btrfs fi show*.

*drange=<range>*::
Balance only block groups which overlap with the given byte range on any
device. Use in conjunction with 'devid' to filter on a specific device. The
parameter is a range specified as 'start..end'.

*vrange=<range>*::
Balance only block groups which overlap with the given byte range in the
filesystem's internal virtual address space. This is the address space that
most reports from btrfs in the kernel log use. The parameter is a range
specified as 'start..end'.

*convert=<profile>*::
Convert each selected block group to the given profile name identified by
parameters.
+
NOTE: starting with kernel 4.5, the 'data' chunks can be converted to/from the
'DUP' profile on a single device.

*limit=<number>*::
*limit=<range>*::
Process only given number of chunks, after all filters are applied. This can be
used to specifically target a chunk in connection with other filters ('drange',
'vrange') or just simply limit the amount of work done by a single balance run.
+
The argument may be a single value or a range. The single value 'N' means 'at
most N chunks', equivalent to '..N' range syntax. Kernels prior to 4.4 accept
only the single value format.  The range minimum and maximum are inclusive.

*stripes=<range>*::
Balance only block groups which have the given number of stripes. The parameter
is a range specified as 'start..end'. Makes sense fo block group profiles that
utilize striping, ie. RAID0/10/5/6.  The range minimum and maximum are
inclusive.

*soft*::
Takes no parameters. Only has meaning when converting between profiles.
When doing convert from one profile to another and soft mode is on,
chunks that already have the target profile are left untouched.
This is useful e.g. when half of the filesystem was converted earlier but got
cancelled.
+
The soft mode switch is (like every other filter) per-type.
For example, this means that we can convert metadata chunks the "hard" way
while converting data chunks selectively with soft switch.

Profile names, used in 'profiles' and 'convert' are one of: 'raid0', 'raid1',
'raid10', 'raid5', 'raid6', 'dup', 'single'. The mixed data/metadata profiles
can be converted in the same way, but it's conversion between mixed and non-mixed
is not implemented. For the constraints of the profiles please refer to `mkfs.btrfs`(8),
section 'PROFILES'.

ENOSPC
------

The way balance operates, it usually needs to temporarily create a new block
group and move the old data there. For that it needs work space, otherwise
it fails for ENOSPC reasons.
This is not the same ENOSPC as if the free space is exhausted. This refers to
the space on the level of block groups.

The free work space can be calculated from the output of the *btrfs filesystem show*
command:

------------------------------
   Label: 'BTRFS'  uuid: 8a9d72cd-ead3-469d-b371-9c7203276265
	   Total devices 2 FS bytes used 77.03GiB
	   devid    1 size 53.90GiB used 51.90GiB path /dev/sdc2
	   devid    2 size 53.90GiB used 51.90GiB path /dev/sde1
------------------------------

'size' - 'used' = 'free work space' +
'53.90GiB' - '51.90GiB' = '2.00GiB'

An example of a filter that does not require workspace is 'usage=0'. This will
scan through all unused block groups of a given type and will reclaim the
space. Ater that it might be possible to run other filters.

**CONVERSIONS ON MULTIPLE DEVICES**

Conversion to profiles based on striping (RAID0, RAID5/6) require the work
space on each device. An interrupted balance may leave partially filled block
groups that might consume the work space.

EXIT STATUS
-----------
*btrfs balance* returns a zero exit status if it succeeds. Non zero is
returned in case of failure.

AVAILABILITY
------------
*btrfs* is part of btrfs-progs.
Please refer to the btrfs wiki http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org for
further details.

SEE ALSO
--------
`mkfs.btrfs`(8),
`btrfs-device`(8)