cwfs(4) tips

No-dump configuration

A cheap VPS or an SD card lack the storage capacity for running a usable default cwfs(4) setup with a big WORM partition and daily dumps. The go-to solution is the hjfs(4) file system, which doesn’t use a dedicated WORM partition and doesn’t do daily dumps by default. However, it has several performance problems and is not as well tested.

The cwfs file system can be configured in lots of ways beyond the default cache-worm + other configuration supported by the 9front installer.

The desired configuration we’re going to cover is a single main file server tree backed by a simple disk file system - the same type used by the other tree in the default setup.

To do this we’re going to partition the disk appropriately and override the mountcwfs stage of the 9front installer with a replacement script that will configure cwfs appropriately. The rest of the installation and most of the subsequent system operation remain unaffected.

Start by booting from the installation media. Configure networking with ip/ipconfig(8) and fetch the replacement mountcwfs script, or put the script on a flash drive:

   webfs
   ramfs
   hget http://a-b.xyz/23/666a >/tmp/mountcwfs
   chmod +x /tmp/mountcwfs

Override the mountcwfs stage using bind(1):

   bind /tmp/mountcwfs /bin/inst/mountcwfs

Run inst/start and complete the stages up to preppart as you would normally. At preppart, delete the default partitions and create one named fsmain with a desired size:

   d other
   d fscache
   d fsworm
   a fsmain 123456 .+100%
   w
   q

Make sure to “ream” the new partition at the next step.

Complete the rest of the installation, reboot. That is all.

Adding A drive to the worm

On long living installations or ones that hold a lot of larger files you may want to add a drive to WORM when it starts to fill up.

First, format the disk, if you are adding to a current install you probably want one large plan9 partition containing a single fsworm partition:

   disk/mbr -m /386/mbr /dev/sdD0/data # If your using gpt I can't help you here
   disk/fdisk -a /dev/sdD0/data # disk/edisk for gpt
   # this will partition all unpartitioned space as a plan9 partition,
   # if it looks correct type w to save and then q to quit
   disk/prep -a fsworm /dev/sdD0/plan9
   # this will create an fsworm partition w and q if it looks correct

Now reboot the computer and at bootargs start cwfs with -c to enter configuration console. At the console enter a new configuration which includes the newly created fsworm partition. Note that device names are likely to be different in your case.

   config: filsys main c(/dev/sdC0/fscache)((/dev/sdC0/fsworm)(/dev/sdD0/fsworm))
   config: filsys dump o
   config: end

After exiting the console the system should boot with the new partition added to the WORM. Run:

   con -C /srv/cwfs.cmd
   statw

to confirm. wsize * 16000 is the size of your WORM.

No refunds

CWFS with WORM on a separate drive

What you do is what you get

These instructions assume you want to set up CWFS on two drives - one containing the cache filesystem, and the other containing the WORM.

This process has been tested on MBR installations, but should be extrapolable to GPT as well with minor changes (see end note if using GPT, please report the results).

Initialize the disks

For this example sd00 will be the cache drive, sd01 will be the WORM.

Assuming your drives are new, for a MBR partitioning scheme, you want to first create a MBR partition table (skip in case of GPT):

   disk/mbr -a /386/mbr /dev/sd00/data 
   disk/mbr -a /386/mbr /dev/sd01/data

You need to add a plan9 partition to both disks, otherwise the installer will not see them (use disk/edisk in case of GPT):

   disk/fdisk -baw /dev/sd00/data disk/fdisk -baw /dev/sd01/data

Now it is time to subdivide the plan9 partitions on both disks. We will then subpartition the cache, and worm disks:

   disk/prep -bw -a^(9fat nvram other fscache) /dev/sd00/plan9
   disk/prep -bw -a fsworm /dev/sd01/plan9

Finally

Start your installation as usual: select cwfs64x as your filesystem, skip partdisk and prepdisk. When going through the mountfs step, make sure to point to the right partitions on each function.

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