btrfs-progs/Documentation/btrfs-balance.rst
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btrfs-balance(8)
================
SYNOPSIS
--------
**btrfs balance** <subcommand> <args>
DESCRIPTION
-----------
.. include:: ch-balance-intro.rst
SUBCOMMAND
----------
cancel <path>
cancels a running or paused balance, the command will block and wait until the
current block group being processed completes
Since kernel 5.7 the response time of the cancellation is significantly
improved, on older kernels it might take a long time until currently
processed chunk is completely finished.
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, the balance status must be stored on the filesystem
from previous run, e.g. after it was paused or forcibly interrupted and mounted
again with *skip_balance*
start [options] <path>
start the balance operation according to the specified filters, without any filters
the data and metadata from the whole filesystem are moved. The process runs in
the foreground.
.. note::
The balance command without filters will basically move everything in the
filesystem to a new physical location on devices (i.e. it does not affect the
logical properties of file extents like offsets within files and extent
sharing). The run time is potentially very long, depending on the filesystem
size. To prevent starting a full balance by accident, the user is warned and
has a few seconds to cancel the operation before it starts. The warning and
delay can be skipped with *--full-balance* option.
Please note that the filters must be written together with the *-d*, *-m* and
*-s* options, because they're optional and bare *-d* and *-m* also work and
mean no filters.
.. note::
When the target profile for conversion filter is *raid5* or *raid6*,
there's a safety timeout of 10 seconds to warn users about the status of the feature
``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*.
-f
force a reduction of metadata integrity, e.g. when going from *raid1* to
*single*, or skip safety timeout when the target conversion profile is *raid5*
or *raid6*
--background|--bg
run the balance operation asynchronously in the background, uses ``fork(2)`` to
start the process that calls the kernel ioctl
--enqueue
wait if there's another exclusive operation running, otherwise continue
-v
(deprecated) alias for global '-v' option
status [-v] <path>
Show status of running or paused balance.
``Options``
-v
(deprecated) alias for global *-v* option
FILTERS
-------
.. include:: ch-balance-filters.rst
ENOSPC
------
The way balance operates, it usually needs to temporarily create a new block
group and move the old data there, before the old block group can be removed.
For that it needs the 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, which are bigger parts of the filesystem
that contain many file extents.
The free work space can be calculated from the output of the **btrfs filesystem show**
command:
.. code-block:: none
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. After 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 consume the work space.
EXAMPLES
--------
A more comprehensive example when going from one to multiple devices, and back,
can be found in section *TYPICAL USECASES* of :doc:`btrfs-device(8)<btrfs-device>`.
MAKING BLOCK GROUP LAYOUT MORE COMPACT
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The layout of block groups is not normally visible; most tools report only
summarized numbers of free or used space, but there are still some hints
provided.
Let's use the following real life example and start with the output:
.. code-block:: none
$ btrfs filesystem df /path
Data, single: total=75.81GiB, used=64.44GiB
System, RAID1: total=32.00MiB, used=20.00KiB
Metadata, RAID1: total=15.87GiB, used=8.84GiB
GlobalReserve, single: total=512.00MiB, used=0.00B
Roughly calculating for data, *75G - 64G = 11G*, the used/total ratio is
about *85%*. How can we can interpret that:
* chunks are filled by 85% on average, i.e. the *usage* filter with anything
smaller than 85 will likely not affect anything
* in a more realistic scenario, the space is distributed unevenly, we can
assume there are completely used chunks and the remaining are partially filled
Compacting the layout could be used on both. In the former case it would spread
data of a given chunk to the others and removing it. Here we can estimate that
roughly 850 MiB of data have to be moved (85% of a 1 GiB chunk).
In the latter case, targeting the partially used chunks will have to move less
data and thus will be faster. A typical filter command would look like:
.. code-block:: none
# btrfs balance start -dusage=50 /path
Done, had to relocate 2 out of 97 chunks
$ btrfs filesystem df /path
Data, single: total=74.03GiB, used=64.43GiB
System, RAID1: total=32.00MiB, used=20.00KiB
Metadata, RAID1: total=15.87GiB, used=8.84GiB
GlobalReserve, single: total=512.00MiB, used=0.00B
As you can see, the *total* amount of data is decreased by just 1 GiB, which is
an expected result. Let's see what will happen when we increase the estimated
usage filter.
.. code-block:: none
# btrfs balance start -dusage=85 /path
Done, had to relocate 13 out of 95 chunks
$ btrfs filesystem df /path
Data, single: total=68.03GiB, used=64.43GiB
System, RAID1: total=32.00MiB, used=20.00KiB
Metadata, RAID1: total=15.87GiB, used=8.85GiB
GlobalReserve, single: total=512.00MiB, used=0.00B
Now the used/total ratio is about 94% and we moved about *74G - 68G = 6G* of
data to the remaining block groups, i.e. the 6GiB are now free of filesystem
structures, and can be reused for new data or metadata block groups.
We can do a similar exercise with the metadata block groups, but this should
not typically be necessary, unless the used/total ratio is really off. Here
the ratio is roughly 50% but the difference as an absolute number is "a few
gigabytes", which can be considered normal for a workload with snapshots or
reflinks updated frequently.
.. code-block:: none
# btrfs balance start -musage=50 /path
Done, had to relocate 4 out of 89 chunks
$ btrfs filesystem df /path
Data, single: total=68.03GiB, used=64.43GiB
System, RAID1: total=32.00MiB, used=20.00KiB
Metadata, RAID1: total=14.87GiB, used=8.85GiB
GlobalReserve, single: total=512.00MiB, used=0.00B
Just 1 GiB decrease, which possibly means there are block groups with good
utilization. Making the metadata layout more compact would in turn require
updating more metadata structures, i.e. lots of IO. As running out of metadata
space is a more severe problem, it's not necessary to keep the utilization
ratio too high. For the purpose of this example, let's see the effects of
further compaction:
.. code-block:: none
# btrfs balance start -musage=70 /path
Done, had to relocate 13 out of 88 chunks
$ btrfs filesystem df .
Data, single: total=68.03GiB, used=64.43GiB
System, RAID1: total=32.00MiB, used=20.00KiB
Metadata, RAID1: total=11.97GiB, used=8.83GiB
GlobalReserve, single: total=512.00MiB, used=0.00B
GETTING RID OF COMPLETELY UNUSED BLOCK GROUPS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Normally the balance operation needs a work space, to temporarily move the
data before the old block groups gets removed. If there's no work space, it
ends with *no space left*.
There's a special case when the block groups are completely unused, possibly
left after removing lots of files or deleting snapshots. Removing empty block
groups is automatic since 3.18. The same can be achieved manually with a
notable exception that this operation does not require the work space. Thus it
can be used to reclaim unused block groups to make it available.
.. code-block:: bash
# btrfs balance start -dusage=0 /path
This should lead to decrease in the *total* numbers in the **btrfs filesystem df** output.
EXIT STATUS
-----------
Unless indicated otherwise below, all **btrfs balance** subcommands
return a zero exit status if they succeed, and non zero in case of
failure.
The **pause**, **cancel**, and **resume** subcommands exit with a status of
**2** if they fail because a balance operation was not running.
The **status** subcommand exits with a status of **0** if a balance
operation is not running, **1** if the command-line usage is incorrect
or a balance operation is still running, and **2** on other errors.
AVAILABILITY
------------
**btrfs** is part of btrfs-progs. Please refer to the documentation at
`https://btrfs.readthedocs.io <https://btrfs.readthedocs.io>`_.
SEE ALSO
--------
:doc:`mkfs.btrfs(8)<mkfs.btrfs>`,
:doc:`btrfs-device(8)<btrfs-device>`