| Hi,
|
| I have a new question. When I created this file system a year ago, I
| didn't anticipate needing any additional nodes other than the original
| 3 I set up. Consequently, I have 3 journals. Now that I've been told
| to add a fourth node, is there a way to add a journal to an existing
| file system that resides on a volume that has not been expanded (the
| docs appear to read that you can only do it to an expanded volume
| because the additional journal(s) take up additional space). My file
| system isn't full, though my volume is fully used by the formatted GFS
| file system.
|
| Is there anything I can do that won't involve destroying my existing
| file system?
|
| Thanks,
| --Joe
> Hi Joe,
> Journals for gfs file systems are carved out during mkfs. The rest of the
> space is used for data and metadata. So there are only two ways to
> make journals: (1) Do another mkfs which will destroy your file system
> or (2) if you're using lvm, add more storage with something like
> lvresize or lvextend, then use gfs_jadd to add the new journal to the
> new chunk of storage.
>
Ok, so I did understand correctly. That's at least something positive. :)
> We realize that's a pain, and that's why we took away that restriction
> in gfs2. In gfs2, journals are kept as a hidden part of the file system,
> so they can be added painlessly to an existing file system without
> adding storage. So I guess a third option would be to convert the file
> system to gfs2 using gfs2_convert, add the journal with gfs2_jadd, then
> use it as gfs2 from then on. But please be aware that gfs2_convert had some
> serious problems until the 5.3 version that was committed to the cluster
> git tree in December, (i.e. the very latest and greatest "RHEL5", "RHEL53",
> "master", "STABLE2" or "STABLE3" versions in the cluster git (source code)
> tree.) Make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you have a working & recent backup and
> restore option before you try this. Also, the GFS2 kernel code prior to
> 5.3 is considered tech preview as well, so not ready for production use.
> So if you're not building from source code, you should wait until RHEL5.3
> or Centos5.3 (or similar) before even considering this option.
>
Ok, I have an earlier version of GFS2, so I guess I'm going to need to sit down and figure out a better strategy for what I've been asked to do. I appreciate the help with my questions, though. Thanks again.
--Joe
> Regards,
>
> Bob Peterson
> Red Hat GFS
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