[Dovecot] XFS vs EXT4 for mail storage

[Marc Perkel]

On 5/2/2013 4:16 AM, Charles Marcus wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm in the process of finalizing the spec for my new dovecot VM, and 
> this is the last question I need to address...
>
> I've read until I'm just about decided on XFS, but I have no 
> experience with it (been using reiserfs on my old box (@ 8 yrs old 
> now), and never had a problem (knock on wood), but considering its 
> current situation (little to no development support for reasons 
> everyone is aware of), I've decided now is the time to switch. It came 
> down to XFS or EXT4, and I like what I've read about XFS, but am 
> unsure how to tune it (or even if I should).
>
> I've decided to use mdbox for storage (been using maildir), and will 
> enable SIS for attachments.
>
> So, anyone (Stan?) have any suggestions? Should I go with EXT4? Or XFS 
> with just the defaults? Or XFS with one or more tuned parameters?
>
> Appreciate any suggestions (including links to docs dealing with 
> tuning XFS for my mail storage conditions that are written more at the 
> layman level) or comments from anyone experienced using both...
>
> Thanks,
>

For what it's worth if you can afford it I'd use SSD drives. My server 
screams since I went to SSD.