[Dovecot] mail spool filesystem

[Stan Hoeppner]

On 8/17/2011 8:23 AM, Julio Cesar Covolato wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I´m about to migrate a system whith 5000 accounts whith (~ 500GB) from
> "postfix/courier-imap/maildrop/mysql" to a new hardware whith
> "postfix/dovecot/dovecot/mysql".
> 
>  I´ll make a separate partition (raid 1) for the mail spool
> (/var/spool/vmail) and want to now what type of filesystem to use on it
> to increase performance. I read that XFS is a good choice, but is not
> too reliable...

With only a single spindle of seek performance, which is what mirroring
(RAID 1) gives you, about 150-300 seeks/second depending on which disks
you use, the filesystem will not be a limiting factor, no matter which
one you choose.  The low IOPS of the disk will limit your performance.
Thus, choose the filesystem you are most comfortable, and experienced,
in managing.

All other factors being equal (proper fit, use, administration, etc) XFS
is as reliable, if not more reliable, than any other Linux filesystem.
I'm guessing that what you read related to a bug that was fixed in 2007,
which previously could cause corruption in certain circumstances, mainly
with many transactions in flight during a power failure, i.e. no UPS or
a failed UPS.

-- 
Stan