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Facebook To Begin Deploying Btrfs

Posted by timothy on from the so-rich-and-smooth dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After hiring the lead Btrfs developers and Linux kernel block maintainers last year, Facebook is beginning trial deployments of Btrfs. Facebook will start using the next-generation file-system within their web-tier and they will be among the first major public deployments of Btrfs."

18 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Give me a big plate of beans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    and I'll start deploying all kinds of btrfs.

  2. How about real problems by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

    When are they going to make the users of their website tolerable human beings instead of insane caricatures designed to make you lose all faith in humanity?

    1. Re:How about real problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bad news, those are the real human beings. The tolerable ones you want to rule the place are actually marketing sockpuppets.

    2. Re:How about real problems by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

      When are they going to make the users of their website tolerable human beings instead of insane caricatures designed to make you lose all faith in humanity?

      And ... this is different from Slashdot, how? ;-)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:How about real problems by kodomo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Can you explain it again, but using a car analogy?

  3. I guess Minecraft will stop using it by barlevg · · Score: 3, Funny

    If Facebook likes something, it must be evil.

    1. Re:I guess Minecraft will stop using it by vux984 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If Facebook likes something, it must be evil.

      If facebook buys something outright, it will be turned to social-shit. FTFY.

      If I happen to share Zuckershits taste in coffee makers, that won't affect my enjoyment of the coffee maker. On the other hand, if Facebook buys out my favorite coffee maker... then yeah, my next coffee maker will be a brand that doesn't try and change my status to "making facebook coffee" everytime I brew a cup. (Well... I don't have a facebook account so that's moot... although I expect a facebook coffeemaker would require one before allowing coffee to be brewed so... there's that.)

    2. Re:I guess Minecraft will stop using it by vux984 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well they "bought out" (that is, "hired") the lead Btrfs developers, so how do you count that?

      I still see it as a jointly developed GPL project, that facebook cannot own.

  4. Sounds about right by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Btrfs

    tl;dr, I assume this is a button to let you tag people as a butterface?

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  5. Thanks, Facebook! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    FB admins - thank you for paying the developers for the open source work they do. I've been using flashcache with great success in one deployment for almost two years now and am looking to start with hhvm. I didn't even know about the block work.

    Obviously kudos to the developers too for spending valuable years on it as well.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  6. Trial by fire... by mlts · · Score: 3, Insightful

    IMHO, this is a very good thing. btrfs doesn't have as many capabilities that ZFS or Storage Spaces/ReFS possesses.

    However, it is finally time that Linux has a filesystem that supports the latest/greatest enterprise features (deduplication and the ability to combat bit rot.)

    Realistically, it would be nice to see the native (not FUSE based) code from OpenZFS be included as an alternative, but the CDDL/GPL conflicts likely will make this a no-go.

    1. Re:Trial by fire... by mcrbids · · Score: 5, Informative

      Realistically, it would be nice to see the native (not FUSE based) code from OpenZFS be included as an alternative, but the CDDL/GPL conflicts likely will make this a no-go.

      Well, isn't this your lucky day, then? ZFS on Linux works now, today, without the use of FUSE. Nothing about the license conflicts prohibits use or distribution, just distribution together. I have ZFS/Linux servers in production right now, and they are quite stable. Starting with a vanilla install of CentOS, the instructions are roughly:

      1) Install the yum repo file.
      2) yum Install kernel-devel zfs
      3) Start the ZFS service.
      4) Start creating ZFS volumes....

      A reboot isn't typically necessary... (though not a bad idea)

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    2. Re:Trial by fire... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Informative

      > Personally I would be *EXTREMELY* wary of running ZFS on Linux.

      So basically you are making an decision based on emotion instead of actual facts??

      Try reading the FAQ next time:

      http://zfsonlinux.org/faq.html...

    3. Re:Trial by fire... by SirMasterboy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Check out: http://open-zfs.org/wiki/Main_...
      http://dtrace.org/blogs/ahl/20...

      ZoL is very active and very up-to-date. All the versions and compatibility is in sync with Illumos (the main source of OpenZFS) and FreeBSD. You can create and move zpools between these 3 platforms seamlessly.

      2 of the main founders and creators of ZFS itself (who used to work for Oracle and wrote ZFS) who now work for Delphix and continue to improve OpenZFS (started with the last open release of Oracle ZFS) in Illumos and have actually made it better than the now closed Oracle ZFS.

      See how OpenZFS is actually better than Oracle ZFS now:
      http://dtrace.org/blogs/ahl/20...

      Actively adding new features: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/... (Largeblock support to match the newer Oracle ZFS)

      Etc...

      Maybe if we pray to the ZFS gods Matthew will start implementing block pointer rewrite some day!

      Anyways, OpenZFS is very active and kicking, and that includes the Linux port.

  7. Btrfs definition by PHPNerd · · Score: 4, Informative

    From wikipedia: Btrfs (B-tree file system) is a GPL-licensed experimental copy-on-write file system for Linux. (I'm sure a lot of people were wondering what it is, since TFA doesn't say)

  8. Re:And facebook will be burnt by mlts · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You are not the only person who have reported data loss on btrfs. Normally I wouldn't worry about Linux filesystems (even ext4 became rock solid after a while.) However, I worry about what I hear from people who use btrfs.

    One concern is that a filesystem can't check for bit rot by itself. True bit rot checking requires at least some working with the LVM layer to check CRCs, find a damaged sector and fix it. I've read that btrfs can catch some bitrot issues, (and please correct me if wrong), but it can't catch/correct anywhere near as much as ZFS or Storage Spaces + ReFS can. btrfs also uses a 32 bit CRC, rather than a 64 bit one.

    I'm hoping that Facebook's coders can find the issues with btrfs and squash them. There are not many companies with the sheer server use of FB, and if they can get it working solidly, btrfs should be more than ready for prime time for everyone else.

  9. Re:btrfs? by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LOL, nice! Or ...

    * Broken To Read Free Space
    * Broken Treatment Reading Free Space

    btrfs FAQ 4.4 - 4.8
    * 4.4 Why does df show incorrect free space for my RAID volume?
    * 4.5 Aaargh! My filesystem is full, and I've put almost nothing into it!
    * 4.6 Why are there so many ways to check the amount of free space?
    * 4.6.1 Raw disk usage
    * 4.6.2 Actual data
    * 4.7 Why is free space so complicated?
    * 4.8 Why is there so much space overhead?
    https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/...

    --
    Microsoft Windows 8: A 64-bit compilation of 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor written by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition with 0 bit of understanding good UI.

  10. Re:Unfortunately, the GPL-compatible ZFS ship has by rev0lt · · Score: 3, Informative

    Larry, really? The guy from the same company who actually STARTED btrfs? That's right, btrfs *is* an Oracle project. Some other big names came onboard later on, but it started there... Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...