Rik van Riel or Alan Cox or Alexander Viro is not telling us something. I'm guessing that Alan Cox is not withholding information, but Heinz himself basically told me (while my company was paying him $250/hour for solid advice) not to bother with anything that touches VM (snapshots, etc.) prior to the release of 2.4.19. So I have been anticipating that release since February, and am rather troubled by all the delays. When is 2.4.19 coming out? All of these pre-patches between a point release just to fix VM corruption issues? Until 2.4.19+, be afraid. Not only are you not alone, you're in the company of several developers who are wondering WTF is going on in the VM subsystem patches! I've been running custom kernels for 3 point releases now (2.4.13-patch is my production NFS box, but it's dead to the internet, I have no idea what I'd suggest if you park your box on an unfiltered uplink) and I guess that's the only answer until a stable 2.4.19+ surfaces. My suggestion is not to do anything too baroque until that time, unless you're prepared to face the consequences. I take cold backups every night and am starting to roll out drbd for RAID1-over-IP, so don't think that I'm some goof with a cable modem who restores from monthlies. It's an icky situation right now with VM. However the advantages of LVM are so overwhelming for large storage networks that we put up with it all :-) Quoth Rechenberg, Andrew: > Here is a lkml thread that may be of use: > > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=101800839000002&r=1&w=2 > > Also check out: > > http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0110.1/0726.html > > According to Alan Cox in the first thread listed above: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > With 2.4.18 we recently get a lot of the following in the kernel log: > > invalidate: busy buffer > > > > Something to worry about? > > Yes in some situations. Its fixed in 2.4.19pre5-ac2 and a bit before > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Hope this helps, > Andy. > > > > > > Hello, > > > > With 2.4.18 we recently get a lot of the following in the kernel log: > > > > invalidate: busy buffer > > > > Something to worry about? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jérémie Banier [mailto:opposummerbeach@yahoo.com] > Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 10:56 AM > To: linux-lvm@sistina.com > Subject: Re: [linux-lvm] kernel: invalidate: busy buffer > > > Ok so were 3 ... > and none of us knows what a busy buffer is ... > : ( > > Jeremie. > > > On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:43:22 -0400 > "Rechenberg, Andrew" <ARechenberg@shermanfinancialgroup.com> > wrote: > > > I received your message via the list so you're not the > > only one :) However I cannot give any assistance with > > your issue. My apologies. > > > > Just letting you know you're not alone on the list, > > Andy. > > > > > > Andrew Rechenberg > > Network Team, Sherman Financial Group > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Rene @ Webscorpion.com > > [mailto:rene.madsen@webscorpion.com] Sent: Tuesday, April > > 16, 2002 10:29 AM To: linux-lvm@sistina.com > > Subject: Re: [linux-lvm] kernel: invalidate: busy buffer > > > > > > Uhm, 24 hours and my posts is the only one? > > Am I the only person on this list? > > > > > > > Dear LVM gurus > > > > > > I've installed LVM on several computers over the years, > > > generally without problem, but now I've hit a box where > > > I can't make it work: This is a P4 with two 60GB IDE > > > drives, hda and hdc. The Kernel is a Redhat 2.4.17 > > > (custom 0.6 fwiw) which I understand is an -ac flavor > > > kernel. It would seem that because of compatibility > > > issues with aquote- unrelated to LVM - I need this -ac > > > hack present. > > > > > > I downloaded and installed the userland tools 1.0.3 and > > > had a beautiful patch created. Trying to apply the patch > > > with --dry-run gives a couple of errors though, so I > > > didn't dare applying it. > > > > > > Instead I just compiled the kernel with LVM support in > > > the kernel(whichever is present in the 2.4.17 kernel, > > > not as not module) and everything seems fine - at least > > > no complaints. This i've done several times before > > > without getting into trouble. > > > > > > Rebooted the kernel, everything still fine. ran vgscan > > > (tookforever but eventually came back) followed by > > > vgchange -a y, which also was ok. > > > > > > pvcreate on both the partitions (one on each disk) goes > > > fine, and so does vgcreate (again, takes forever, but > > > finally...) > > > > > > Now the problem: lvcreate dumps core. Doesnt matter how > > > much or little space I create, what I call it, if I use > > > just one pv or if I try to slice it. > > > > > > I notice in my /var/log/messages that I get MILLIONS > > > (really) of errors: kernel: invalidate: busy buffer > > > last message repeated 12233432 times > > > last message repeated 534252times > > > last message repeated 545234242 times > > > > > > What am I doing wrong? Is this error related to the > > > missing kernel patching? > > > > > > How can I patch a standard kernel for both -ac and LVM ? > > > As I understand it they both require a "clean" kernel to > > > apply good? > > > > > > Sorry for the perhaps stupid quiestions, but I am not a > > > kernel guru - I only know just enough to get myself into > > > trouble :-) I *did* read the FAQ and I *did* search > > > google (usenet) - didnt' find the answers tho... > > > > > > TIA! > > > Rene > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > linux-lvm mailing list > > > linux-lvm@sistina.com > > > http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm > > > read the LVM HOW-TO at > > > http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > linux-lvm mailing list > > linux-lvm@sistina.com > > http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm > > read the LVM HOW-TO at > > http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > > linux-lvm mailing list > > linux-lvm@sistina.com > > http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm > > read the LVM HOW-TO at > > http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html > > _______________________________________________ > linux-lvm mailing list > linux-lvm@sistina.com > http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm > read the LVM HOW-TO at http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html > > _______________________________________________ > linux-lvm mailing list > linux-lvm@sistina.com > http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm > read the LVM HOW-TO at http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html -- "The Internet, of course, is more than a place to find pictures of people having sex with dogs." --Philip Elmer-Dewitt, Time Magazine, July 3, 1995 _______________________________________________ linux-lvm mailing list linux-lvm@sistina.com http://lists.sistina.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm read the LVM HOW-TO at http://www.sistina.com/lvm/Pages/howto.html
