11-28-2007, 01:34 AM
Peter de Zwart
Default Bug#453254: linux-2.6.18-5-xen-686: Unable to create more than 32 LVM snapshots in total
Package: linux-2.6.18-5-xen-686
Severity: normal
When attempting to create more than 32 LVM snapshots, the following error message is sent from the Kernel:
device-mapper: table: 254:142: snapshot: Could not create kcopyd client
device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to table
==========================
(End of reference; no follow-up found.) Except that in my case 15 is the max snapshot count, not 32. Increasing memory from 4GB to 6GB does not help. I notice mentions of this "Could not create kcopyd client" bug on the web all the way back to 2004. Does anybody know any workaround? Our customer is not happy about a 15-snapshot limit. Versions are (variants of) lvm2-2.02.38, device-mapper-1.02.26, kernel-smp-2.6.20 (64 bit).
Larry
Sorry, I did not make that last question clear:What (if any) is the formula by which I can predict the number of snapshots that are possible, given a certain size of the parent volume and/or snapshot and a certain amount of available memory? Milan implied there was such a limit, and I seem to remember it, but I can't seem to find it spelled out anywhere.Larry
On 8/29/08, Larry Dickson <ldickson@cuttedge.com> wrote:You said:> (But technically I tested >50 snapshot from one LV - should be limited> only by available memory in recent kernels)
What is that limit? I suspect that is what I have run up against.Larry
On 8/29/08, Milan Broz <mbroz@redhat.com> wrote:Larry Dickson wrote:
> With a 768 GB logical volume in a 2235 GB volume group, and 4 GB of
> memory, I try to set up lots of snapshots (of 45 or 50 GB each) and
> can't get past 15. Sometimes I'll succeed in generating more than 15
> COWs in /dev/mapper, but lvdisplay never shows more than 15 snapshots in
> the "LV snapshot status source of" listing under the parent volume. I
> searched and found 15 snapshots mentioned in a couple places like
> wiki.samba.org/index.php/Shadow_Copies_with_Snapshots
> <http://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Shadow_Copies_with_Snapshots> - but
> nothing really authoritative.
>
> Is there really such a limit? Or is it a memory requirement - I seem to
> remember so many MB memory per GB of storage, but can't find that
> either. Versions are (variants of) lvm2-2.02.38, device-mapper-1.02.26,
> kernel-smp-2.6.20 (64 bit).
Hi,
no, there is no hard limit for snapshots.
But IIRC patches which solves some problems related with this (using private dm-io
mempool) were commited in 2.6.22 kernel.
But anyway, many snapshot from one origin causes serious performance degradation.
(Current snapsot implementation is not ideal in this situation - every write to origin
is replicated N-times to COW snapshot area - iow: every snapshot is independent and
need copy changed area separately.)
(But technically I tested >50 snapshot from one LV - should be limited only by available
memory in recent kernels).
Milan
--
mbroz@redhat.com
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