4.9. Configuring atime Updates
Each file inode and directory inode has three time stamps associated with it:
ctime
— The last time the inode status was changedmtime
— The last time the file (or directory) data was modifiedatime
— The last time the file (or directory) data was accessed
If
atime
updates are enabled as they are by default on GFS and other Linux file systems then every time a file is read, its inode needs to be updated.
Because few applications use the information provided by
atime
, those updates can require a significant amount of unnecessary write traffic and file-locking traffic. That traffic can degrade performance; therefore, it may be preferable to turn off atime
updates.
Two methods of reducing the effects of
atime
updating are available:
- Mount with
noatime
- Tune GFS
atime
quantum
4.9.1. Mount with noatime Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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A standard Linux mount option,
noatime
, can be specified when the file system is mounted, which disables atime
updates on that file system.
Usage Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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mount -t gfs BlockDevice MountPoint -o noatime
mount -t gfs BlockDevice MountPoint -o noatime
BlockDevice
- Specifies the block device where the GFS file system resides.
MountPoint
- Specifies the directory where the GFS file system should be mounted.
Example Copy linkLink copied to clipboard!
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In this example, the GFS file system resides on the
/dev/vg01/lvol0
and is mounted on directory /gfs1
with atime updates turned off.
mount -t gfs /dev/vg01/lvol0 /gfs1 -o noatime
mount -t gfs /dev/vg01/lvol0 /gfs1 -o noatime