Blockpool Data, Files, and Commands

Overview

The following sections describe the location of blockpool data, configuration files, and useful commands.

Location of Data

For DXi 1.x Software

/snfs/Q directory (For example: /snfs/Q/shares or /snfs/Q/partitions)

For DXi 2.x Software

/snfs/ddup/ </shares/fooshare/> - the user files (only)
/snfs/ddup.journal/ - the commit log
/snfs/ddup.stats/ - machine readable statistics

Location Configuration Files

Configuration is handled the same for DXi 1.x and DXi 2.x software. The following list includes the main files:

/opt/DXi/theSeer/ddup_cfg.xml (– pcache parameters do not change.)
/opt/DXi/theSeer/bpwd.config
/opt/DXi/theSeer/BPW_Config.conf
All are restart-time only

Location of Logs with DXi 2.0 Software

BPW logs to /var/log/DXi/bpw.log and tsunami.log.
Look at /var/log/DXi/bpwd_tags.log for when Blobs are stored.
BPWAPI logs to tsunami.log.
Note: Currently, Blockpool also logs Blob operations (e.g., store, delete, retrieve, and replicate) in /var/log/blockpool_master.log.
Note: bpw.log and bpwd_tags.log are new logfiles.

For more information about logs, refer to the DXi Log Reading Basics topic.

Useful Blockpool Command Tasks

When filepath inputs are needed, you need to specify /snfs/ddup/shares/… instead of /snfs/Q/shares/…

You can’t use the normal tools (cat, mkdir, etc.) on BPW files. There are a selection of others that work instead:

/opt/DXi/bpw/bin/bwcat – Use like cat to read a file, but on BPW files.
bpwutil mkdir, rmdir, etc.

Here are some useful command tasks for DXi 2.x software:

How to get the contents of a file? User files no longer reside in a disk cache. To get access to a file’s contents, the file must be reconstructed, which includes retrieving the data from the blockpool. The bwcat command will do that for you. For example, bwcat –o outfile /snfs/ddup/shares/alue_nfs1/file.0

How to determine which tags are associated with a file or directory? The deduputil command no longer exists, as there is no QBFS filesystem anymore. Instead bpw_service is used.

bpw_service --dumptags \ /snfs/ddup/shares/alue_nfs_1/file.0
File: /snfs/ddup/shares/alue_nfs_1/file.0
Start Length Tag
0000000000000000 0000000040000000 150F1ED6051E4AE6C53FA4FBC74F947E (Wed Nov 24 16:44:16 2010)
0000000040000000 0000000040000000 CC422AE5C36A7B64D059FA554FAF664A (Wed Nov 24 16:48:16 2010)
[… deleted …]

How to determine which files reference a tag? Previously, you could check the output of deduputil or /snfs/healthcheck/referencedtags to determine which files reference a tag. Now, you will use bpw_service instead.

bpw_service --tagsearch 150F1ED6051E4AE6C53FA4FBC74F947E /snfs/ddup/shares
-----------------------------------------------------------
File: /snfs/ddup/shares/alue_nfs_1/file.0
Start Length Tag
0000000000000000 0000000040000000 150F1ED6051E4AE6C53FA4FBC74F947E

Useful Blockpool Commands and Syntax

The following sections describe some helpful commands, and the syntax needed for specific functionality.

# /opt/DXi/bpw/bin/bpwd

Usage: ./bpwd [-C config] [-B connections] [-L] [-t module] [-X var=value]

-C: Use the given configuration file.

-B <connections>: Set number of connections to BFST.

-L: Enable lock debugging.

-t <module>: Enable tracing for specified module.

-X var[=value]: Set variable value.

# /opt/DXi/bpw/bin/bpw_service

The deduputil program is gone in DXi 2.x. It has been replaced by the following:

bpw_service --dumptags - equivalent-ish to deduptil –nr – which tags does this file/dir contain?
bpw_service --tagsearch – which files reference this tag?

Usage: bpw_service <command> [argument(s)]
--dumptags <filename | path>
Prints out the blob tags from a given file or directory path

        Similar to deduputil -nr
--filestat <filename>
        Examines the state of a file.
--ping
        Ping a bpwd server.
--shutdown
        Shut down a running bpwd.
--tagsearch <tag> <path>
        Search for the whereabouts of a tag in a file store.
--trace <package_id> [trace_mask | ALL]
        Prints or sets the trace mask for the given package.
--version
        Prints the revision number of this utility.

# /opt/DXi/bpw/bin/bpwutil

bpwutil is very useful for troubleshooting bpw issues. You can use it to get useful stats for bw, bfst and pcache as well as performance metrics.

Usage: ./bpwutil command [args]
Valid commands:
alltriggers <unreg/die>
add <path to share> <dedup|nondedup>
dump <files|pcache|pages|tunables> (useful utility to use when system breaks or is running slow)
gc <on|off> (allows GC Mode to be turned on/off manually)
inode <relative path to file>
listen <path to share> <trigger|change> <unreg/die>
listen2 <path to share> <trigger|change> <path to share> <trigger|change> <unreg/die>
metrics
newtag <unreg/die>
getpolicy <path to share>
gettags <path to file> <as_is|fail_non_normal|normalize|fail_open>
settags <path to file> offset length tag_value tag_offset [filesize]
settagsfromfile <path to file> <file with tags> [filesize]
file should have lines like
offset length tag_off tag
mkdir <path to parent> <name>
ping
remove <path to share>
rmdir <path to parent> <name>
setpolicy <path to share> [normalize] [continuous] [trigger]
share_stats [path to share]
shutdown
space <normal|low|stopio> [low|stopio] (allows low space to be 'faked')
stats [-c|-v] [bw|bw_non_persistent|bfst|pcache]
tune <name>

Ways to Start / Stop BPW Processes

Depends on SNFS, blockpool
Provides the shared memory for other data path components
/etc/init.d/bpwd
If bpwd or any other data path member goes down, they must all go down (except BFST)

What's Next?

BFST: The Blockpool >