Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 12:38:56 +0200 (CEST) From: Oliver Fromme <olli@secnetix.de> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Using MFS for the first time Message-ID: <200209211038.g8LAcube080287@lurza.secnetix.de> In-Reply-To: <20020921012745.GA1265@houston.rr.com>
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Joseph <mystical@houston.rr.com> wrote: > Okay, so I've been using Windows, so what?! Sure it crashes alot, and > has a serious number of fatal errors, but it compatible with an easy to > configure Ram-disk program. In a matter of seconds, i had a virtual > drive running off of my 512 mb of spare ram. That's right, the old RAM-Disk driver even existen in the old DOS days, 15 years ago, and that's where it belongs. It is static and non-swappable. Not even perfect for a single-tasking system like DOS. ;-) > Okay, so maybe i exaggerate a little. I'm not too fond of Windows. > Freebsd is the best choice i've made by far. However, i am quite new to > MFS usages, and Kernel compilations. I'm hoping that an expert in this > field can point out the pro's and con's, usages of, maintenance of MFS. > Btw, this is just a standalone system, a personal computer, u might say. I'm not an expert, but I'm using MFS myself. It's pretty easy to set up: Add a line like this to your /etc/fstab file: /dev/null /tmp mfs rw,nosuid,nodev,-s=204800,-m=0,-T=minimum 0 0 The number behind "-s=" specifies the maximum size in disk blocks, where one block is 512 bytes. In the above example, the MFS filesystem would be 100 Mbytes. It is mounted on /tmp, which is the typical usage for an MFS. Pros: Well, it's faster than a physical disk, as long as there is enough RAM to back up the data. If you run out of RAM, the contents of the MFS are (partially) paged to the swap area on your harddisk, just like a normal process (and unlike the DOS RAMdisk driver). Cons: If you're really low on RAM, and MFS won't do you any good -- quite the opposite: It takes up valuable RAM which ends up being paged to disk anyway if there's not enough RAM left. Another disadvantage is that the contents of the MFS are lost when the machine reboote (obviously). On the other hand it could be seen as an advantage, as the contents of /tmp don't have to be cleaned after a reboot. Be careful not to mount an MFS on /var/tmp, because this directory is expected by several tools to survive a reboot (for example to save vi editor sessions)! Regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co KG, Oettingenstr. 2, 80538 München Any opinions expressed in this message may be personal to the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of secnetix in any way. "All that we see or seem is just a dream within a dream" (E. A. Poe) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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