On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 6:52 AM, Benjamin Lefoul
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks. OpenSUSE 13.2 uses btrfs as default (!!) and we have one prototype of our system running it (most of our productions are still running older openSUSE on ext4).
>
> We are considering switching to Scientific Linux, but the btrfs question remains. The prototype is doing fine so far, but what we are really interested in with BTRFS is RAID and compression (not tried yet).
>
> The new openSUSE release from yesterday (apparently no longer called "openSUSE" but "Leap") decided to use SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Linux) as upstream, while keeping btrfs as default, and I don't know if that means SLES (a major enterprise distro) also considers BTRFS mature.

The "ext*" series of filesystems have been extremely reliable, and
stable, and have gained incrementally in capacity in time to support
the growing needs.

> If you recommend not using BTRFS in Scientific Linux until Red Hat makes a major release of it, that could mean 3 years of waiting given their release life cycle. I am no longer sure which way to go…

What's the rush? Is there a single compelling performance benefit in
your workflow?

> Benjamin Lefoul
> nWISE AB
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: David Sommerseth [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2015 11:54 AM
> To: Benjamin Lefoul; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: BTRFS
>
> On 05/11/15 09:38, Benjamin Lefoul wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> If the btrfs filesystem on SL7 mature enough for a production environment?
>> According to Sanders van Vugt it was not even available in RHEL 7.0, but will be (is?) in updates…
>
> I would claim that btrfs is NOT ready for primetime production where
> your data is precious.  If your intention is to use it on systems where
> you have good backups to get acquainted with it, test it in a broader
> scale and do bug reporting, then it is probably fine.
>
> Btrfs have also been a topic on a few conferences I've been on over the
> years (like devconf.cz), and file system developers doing btrfs
> presentations have often said that btrfs still needs to be treated
> carefully.  It just takes time to develop and mature an advanced file
> system.
>
> In addition I would also say that once RHEL puts it in a release ready
> for production, that's the point where you can begin to have real
> confidence in the file system.  Currently I believe it is only available
> as a technology preview.  More on technology preview can be found here:
> <https://access.redhat.com/support/offerings/techpreview>
>
> On the other hand, I am conservative and very careful when it comes to
> data integrity.
>
>
> --
> kind regards,
>
> David Sommerseth