Zimbra Disk Statistics, non-EXT3 Volumes

[ccmacmil]

The disk status logger seems to be biased towards Linux EXT3 volumes and Mac HFS. I assume this is the case to avoid stats on TMPFS, PROC, etc.

if ($platform eq "MACOSX") {
        $MNTCMD = "mount -t hfs";
        $DFCMD = "df -ml ";
} else {
        $MNTCMD = "mount -t ext3";
        $DFCMD = "df -ml ";
}

This creates a problem for SAN users running XFS or SUSE users running reisferfs. I have modified mine to accept these additional file systems by:

if ($platform eq "MACOSX") {
        $MNTCMD = "mount -t hfs";
        $DFCMD = "df -ml ";
} else {
        $MNTCMD = "mount -t ext3,reiserfs,xfs";
        $DFCMD = "df -ml ";
}

Will this cause any troubles down the line??? This does not solve the problem of statistics greater than 24 hours... nor the "hostname" statistics issue (i.e. data stored as "host" instead of "host.domain.tld" and recalled from table as "host" yielding nothing...)

[KevinH]

May not cause trouble with the stats, but using a file system on Linux other than ext3 is not recommended. Don't want to start a 'which file system is better' war here but from the testing and work we've done ext3 is the way to go. Might just be based on how Zimbra uses the file system but it the file system we recommend.

[Dirk]

Sorry to drag open an old thread.

I assume this change will be overwritten when updating zimbra?

I understand that Zimbra recommend an ext3 filesystem, (although I dont recall reading that anywhere before I formatted as reiser), but the current code fails and offers no clue why.

Could Zimbra please anclude this change in the codebase so that the graphs will work for everyone, supported FS or not, or add error checking to the code that shows a message like "Graphs not available, you need an ext3 partition" ?

[ArcaneMagus]

Yes the change is overwritten with every upgrade and has to be re-applied.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by Dirk

I understand that Zimbra recommend an ext3 filesystem, (although I dont recall reading that anywhere before I formatted as reiser), but the current code fails and offers no clue why.

I had a feeling that it was mentioned in the Documention but for the life of me, I can't find it. The only current reference I can see is in the Performance Tuning for Large Deployments.

There is, of course, the inevitable bug report.

[Dirk]

Whoa! This one is a blast from the past
I'd check to confirm this but I dont have a non ext3 system anymore, but if anyone has a reiser or ext2 etc platfrom that they find the charts work as default on, then please make a note and we can retire this thread back into the dusty cupboards !

[ArcaneMagus]

As the original poster stated...to get the disk stats working with anything other than ext3 you will need to modify /opt/zimbra/libexec/zmdisklog as the default version installed will only run statistics on partitions that are returned with the "mount -t ext3" command. All other partitions are ignored. This has been true since at minimum 4.5.1 (when I first installed Zimbra).