Re: [9fans] fs (config) questions

[Axel Belinfante <Axel.Belinfante@cs.utwente.nl>]

To follow up on my own message:
I just more or less completed setting up the file server.
I'm still interested in feedback on the more general question of
what would be sensible filesys configs.

Another, maybe a bit naive, question: the worm-like nature of the
pseudo worm will cause it to fill up eventually.
Would it be possible to plug in another disk and configure that
as part of an existing pseudo-worm, like if you would be adding
a worm disk/platter(?) to a jukebox which always has one more
free slot?

W.r.t. the fileserver I just brought up:
There are probably still some rough edges, but I can boot the
auth/cpu server from it, and connect to it via drawterm.
However, when I ssh to it, it dies:
telnetd 202: suicide: sys: trap: fault read addr=0x4326 pc=0x00004326
telnetd 196:die
Any ideas where to look for that? (after the eastern weekend :-)

Axel.


> I'm trying to build a file server. The available documentation
> gives me a pretty good idea of how to configure it (or so it seems),
> provided I know what I want. The question is, given the hardware available
> to me, what would be a 'sensible' configuration?
>
> Recent file server discussion suggested to me at least two rules of thumb:
>  1) keep it simple
>  2) when 'stealing' one (or more) partition(s) from a pseudo cached worm,
>     take them from the cache disk, and not from the pseudo worm
>  3) go back to rule 1)
> Are there other 'rules'? For example, for a cached (pseudo) worm, how big
> should the cache be, e.g. relative to worm, or to number of users or ...?
>
> The hardware available to me consists of a pc with two scsi controllers.
> The first controller controls a single 4Gb disk.
> The second controller controls two 8Gb disks.
>
> My idea was to use the two 8Gb disks as pseudo-worm,
> and (part of?) the 4Gb disk as cache.
> How much cache would be sensible?
> Should I concatenate the two 8Gb disks, or is it better
> to interleave them?
> Would it make sense to define partitions on the 8Gb disks?
> (probably not, because of KISS)
>
> The remainder of this messages describes my attempts so far.
> Unfortunately, I did not capture all error messages so it is
> a bit vague. I will try again, and come with more concrete
> questions and details if I encounter problems.
> I hope this still provides enough information for someone to react
> on the configurations I tried.
>
> Before the March 27 update I tried to boot the pc with a 9pcfs kernel,
> but it did hang even before printing the config: prompt.
> With the march 27 update I got to the config: prompt.
> I tried as firs configuration (typing from memory, because the actual
> attempt I made already a little more than a week ago)
> (omitting the ip/ream/end stuff)
>
>   filsys main c[p(w0)0.25p(w0)25.25p(w0)50.25]f[w1.<0-1>.0]
>   filsys dump o
>   filsys temp p(w0)75.25
>
> but this failed (error message about the config, I think, but I did
> not see the what's wrong with it).
>
> Then I tried the simpler
>
>   filsys main cp(w0)0.25f[w1.<0-1>.0]
>   filsys dump o
>   filsys temp p(w0)25.75
>
> which also did not work (again, I think, I got some error message,
> without understanding the error)
>
> The even more simple
>
>   filsys main cw0f[w1.<0-1>.0]
>   filsys dump o
>
> seemed to work at first, but this no longer gives me un-dumped temp space.
> Moreover, after reboot of the fs it had problems reading the configuration
> (I recall error messages like 'filsss unknown command' or something similar:
>  an error message containing what seems to be a fsconfig command, but
>  with some character duplicated, replacing the original character,
>  giving an erroneous command)
> Does this sound familiar to someone?i
>
> I intend to (soon) retry building the file server, and then try to have
> a laptop connected to the fs as console (the output scrolls too fast,
> and, worse, disappears when the fs kernel crashes and reboots.)
> I still have to read the man pages, but I recall having seen a 'cons'
> command or something similar, and a plan9.ini console config entry.
>
> Thanks in advance for any feedback,
> Axel.