From df981d03eeff7971ac7e6ff37000bfa702327ef1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Theodore Ts'o Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:48:17 -0400 Subject: ext4: add max_dir_size_kb mount option Very large directories can cause significant performance problems, or perhaps even invoke the OOM killer, if the process is running in a highly constrained memory environment (whether it is VM's with a small amount of memory or in a small memory cgroup). So it is useful, in cloud server/data center environments, to be able to set a filesystem-wide cap on the maximum size of a directory, to ensure that directories never get larger than a sane size. We do this via a new mount option, max_dir_size_kb. If there is an attempt to grow the directory larger than max_dir_size_kb, the system call will return ENOSPC instead. Google-Bug-Id: 6863013 Signed-off-by: "Theodore Ts'o" --- Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt') diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt index 1b7f9acbcbbe..104322bf378c 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt @@ -375,6 +375,16 @@ dioread_nolock locking. If the dioread_nolock option is specified Because of the restrictions this options comprises it is off by default (e.g. dioread_lock). +max_dir_size_kb=n This limits the size of directories so that any + attempt to expand them beyond the specified + limit in kilobytes will cause an ENOSPC error. + This is useful in memory constrained + environments, where a very large directory can + cause severe performance problems or even + provoke the Out Of Memory killer. (For example, + if there is only 512mb memory available, a 176mb + directory may seriously cramp the system's style.) + i_version Enable 64-bit inode version support. This option is off by default. -- cgit v1.2.3-59-g8ed1b