>> I've understood that XFS is a great filesystem and would like to use
>> it for our 2 file servers. As I'm new to linux administration, I was
>> planning to purchase SUSE to have the XFS filesystem supported for
>> these two machines. But, I really like the Centos distro and
>> community. So, I'm wondering, how hard would it be for me to get
>> this working and to maintain it. Is it complicated to recompile the
>> Centos 4 kernel to enable it? And, what sort of upkeep is necessary
>> as updates become available? I'd appreciate any general and specific
>> information on what's involved to get XFS enabled on Centos 4.
>>
> Unless you specifically need a feature of XFS that's unavailable in
> EXT3, you might want to stick with the "standard" journalled file
> system since you are "new to linux administration." I have never
> played with XFS or Reiserfs so I can't comment on their merits, but I
> can comment that EXT3 has been bulletproof for me on many file server
> installs. And being a lazy creature of habit, I've not felt the need
> to rock the boat. 8-)
>
I've heard that it can take a very long time to get an EXT3 system back
online after a file system crash; whereas, XFS provides rapid recovery
from system crashes. Since we mirror the two file servers (each have an
attachment with 2 TB of data), I'm more interested in being able to get
back online quickly. Have you had any file system crashes and if so,
how long did it take you to get back up?
