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82 lines
4.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
82 lines
4.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
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Experimental Features
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=====================
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CephFS includes a number of experimental features which are not fully stabilized
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or qualified for users to turn on in real deployments. We generally do our best
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to clearly demarcate these and fence them off so they can't be used by mistake.
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Some of these features are closer to being done than others, though. We describe
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each of them with an approximation of how risky they are and briefly describe
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what is required to enable them. Note that doing so will *irrevocably* flag maps
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in the monitor as having once enabled this flag to improve debugging and
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support processes.
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Directory Fragmentation
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-----------------------
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CephFS directories are generally stored within a single RADOS object. But this has
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certain negative results once they become large enough. The filesystem is capable
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of "fragmenting" these directories into multiple objects. There are no known bugs
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with doing so but it is not sufficiently tested to support at this time.
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Directory fragmentation has always been off by default and required setting
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```mds bal frag = true`` in the MDS' config file. It has been further protected
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by requiring the user to set the "allow_dirfrags" flag for Jewel.
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Inline data
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-----------
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By default, all CephFS file data is stored in RADOS objects. The inline data
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feature enables small files (generally <2KB) to be stored in the inode
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and served out of the MDS. This may improve small-file performance but increases
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load on the MDS. It is not sufficiently tested to support at this time, although
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failures within it are unlikely to make non-inlined data inaccessible
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Inline data has always been off by default and requires setting
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the "inline_data" flag.
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Multi-MDS filesystem clusters
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-----------------------------
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CephFS has been designed from the ground up to support fragmenting the metadata
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hierarchy across multiple active metadata servers, to allow horizontal scaling
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to arbitrary throughput requirements. Unfortunately, doing so requires a lot
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more working code than having a single MDS which is authoritative over the
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entire filesystem namespace.
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Multiple active MDSes are generally stable under trivial workloads, but often
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break in the presence of any failure, and do not have enough testing to offer
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any stability guarantees. If a filesystem with multiple active MDSes does
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experience failure, it will require (generally extensive) manual intervention.
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There are serious known bugs.
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Multi-MDS filesystems have always required explicitly increasing the "max_mds"
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value and have been further protected with the "allow_multimds" flag for Jewel.
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Snapshots
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---------
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Like multiple active MDSes, CephFS is designed from the ground up to support
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snapshotting of arbitrary directories. There are no known bugs at the time of
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writing, but there is insufficient testing to provide stability guarantees and
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every expansion of testing has generally revealed new issues. If you do enable
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snapshots and experience failure, manual intervention will be needed.
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Snapshotting was blocked off with the "allow_new_snaps" flag prior to Firefly.
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Multiple filesystems within a Ceph cluster
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------------------------------------------
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Code was merged prior to the Jewel release which enables administrators
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to create multiple independent CephFS filesystems within a single Ceph cluster.
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These independent filesystems have their own set of active MDSes, cluster maps,
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and data. But the feature required extensive changes to data structures which
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are not yet fully qualified, and has security implications which are not all
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apparent nor resolved.
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There are no known bugs, but any failures which do result from having multiple
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active filesystems in your cluster will require manual intervention and, so far,
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will not have been experienced by anybody else -- knowledgeable help will be
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extremely limited. You also probably do not have the security or isolation
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guarantees you want or think you have upon doing so.
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Multiple filesystems were available starting in the Jewel release candidates
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but were protected behind the "enable_multiple" flag before the final release.
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