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unexpected file placement


scottmlew

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I have 3 balancers active, plus file placement rules, and I am not seeing the file placement behavior that I expect. The 3 placement rules are: Stablebit Scanner, Prevent Drive Overfill, Ordered File Placement. For file placement rules, i have a couple of entries for recycle bins that I'm ignoring, plus Folder_A which is marked for drives d01-d04 and Folder_B which is marked for drive d05. When I copy directories into Folder_B on the pool, the contents are split between d04 and d05 in a round-robin manner. This does not seem like the expected behavior since the copied files should match the rule for Folder_B and go only to d05 (which is essentially empty, so nowhere near the limits of the Overfill or Placement balancers). Any ideas why it is doing this?

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If you're using File Placement rules with the Ordered File Placement Balancer Plugin, then you need to make the following changes:

 

  • UNCHECK "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."
  • CHECK "Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules."
  • UNCHECK "Unless the drive is being emptied."

This is because the balancer plugin's settings will override the file placement rules.

 

These settings are found in the "Settings" (main) tab of the balancer settings (Pool Options > Balancing)

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Hi Chris, I will gather some logs when I am next able to access this box (likely not until the weekend). In the meantime, though, I guess I should verify 2 things:

 

1. since I am using SnapRAID I have "do not balance automatically" selected, to avoid extraneous file movement. I wanted to confirm that this is correct.

 

2. with the file placement rules, the files should be put on the "correct" disk as soon as they are copied to the pool and a rebalance shouldn't be required to get them in the correct place....right?

 

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Aaah,  That might be part of the problem too.

 

The file placement rules are part of the balancing system, so it may adversely affect this.  

 

 

However, I do understand not wanting to move the files around a lot. But the once a day option, or immediately, but not more often than every X hours option may help out here. 

I'd recommend enabling it for a bit, and see if that helps out.

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However, I do understand not wanting to move the files around a lot. But the once a day option, or immediately, but not more often than every X hours option may help out here. 

I'd recommend enabling it for a bit, and see if that helps out.

 

Does this mean that the file placement rules are not immediate? i.e., files may be put on a disk that the rule prohibits them from being on and then later moved to an approved disk?

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I have a log file now and will send to you directly. Exact situation as described in the original post. I copied in to the file share for Folder_B ("TV" when you look at the log files) and the files end up on d04. I've tried this locally on the server itself (no share involved) and seen the exact same behavior. I also tried with the option to balance immediately (and I even unchecked the "no more often than X hours" box) and still see the same behavior. 

 

I did notice that only 3 of my drives have a .covefs folder. Not sure why that is, or if it is important. The drives WITH the .covefs folder are d01, d02, and d03...so neither the drive that should get the files, nor the drive actually getting the files, has the folder.

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Does this mean that the file placement rules are not immediate? i.e., files may be put on a disk that the rule prohibits them from being on and then later moved to an approved disk?

It depends on a number of factor, but it should be.  However, it's not enforced later unless balancing passes happen. (eg, balancing is set to immediately or once per day). 

 

I have a log file now and will send to you directly. Exact situation as described in the original post. I copied in to the file share for Folder_B ("TV" when you look at the log files) and the files end up on d04. I've tried this locally on the server itself (no share involved) and seen the exact same behavior. I also tried with the option to balance immediately (and I even unchecked the "no more often than X hours" box) and still see the same behavior. 

 

I did notice that only 3 of my drives have a .covefs folder. Not sure why that is, or if it is important. The drives WITH the .covefs folder are d01, d02, and d03...so neither the drive that should get the files, nor the drive actually getting the files, has the folder.

 

And thank you for grabbing the logs. 

I've flagged them for Alex (the Developer). 

https://stablebit.com/Admin/IssueAnalysis/25961

 

As for the ".covefs" folder, this is hidden metadata for the pool, specifically for reparse point information. You shouldn't mess with this. And this folder is set to x3 duplication, as well. That's why you're seeing it on three of the drives (and I'm guessing the first three you added?)

 

 

Also, could you disable ALL of the balancers, except for the Ordered File Placement balancer plugin and see if that helps. 

 

If it doesn't, try disabling all of the balancers and see if that helps. 

 

I've uploaded the files into our Box account, so you can delete them from your dropbox account if you wish. 

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Chris, thx for opening the case. That makes sense re: the .covefs folder, and it is on the first 3 drives I added to the pool, so all is well there.

 

I tried disabling all balancers except Ordered File Placement (OFP) and saw the same unexpected behavior (files going to d04). Then i disabled OFP as well, and got the expected behavior (files going to d05). I reenabled the other 2 balancers (StableBit Scanner and Prevent Drive Overfill) and am still seeing the expected behavior. So, OFP seems to be the culprit (or at least contributing to the issue).

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I had a feeling. :(

 

But thank you for confirming, as that definitely makes things easier for us!

 

 

I know I've asked, but absolutely verify that you're using these settings as listed:

  • UNCHECK "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."
  • CHECK "Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules."
  • UNCHECK "Unless the drive is being emptied."

Especially, the first one. Checked means that it will follow the Real-time placement limit set by the Ordered File Placement balancer, and this sounds like it is what is going on here. (in fact, if it is checked, then what you're seeing is actually expected, as weird as it may seem). 

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I had a feeling. :(

 

But thank you for confirming, as that definitely makes things easier for us!

 

 

I know I've asked, but absolutely verify that you're using these settings as listed:

  • UNCHECK "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."
  • CHECK "Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules."
  • UNCHECK "Unless the drive is being emptied."

Especially, the first one. Checked means that it will follow the Real-time placement limit set by the Ordered File Placement balancer, and this sounds like it is what is going on here. (in fact, if it is checked, then what you're seeing is actually expected, as weird as it may seem). 

 

I have verified again right now, and those settings are as you indicated (screenshot attached)

post-2390-0-86361400-1458493563_thumb.png

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Unfortunately, not yet.

 

I'll bump this, so that Alex sees this, as you're defnitely not the only one seeing this. 

 

 

Also, what version are you using of StableBit DrivePool specifically?

And what OS?

 

Thanks for bumping. 

 

I'm using 2.1.1.561 running on 2012 R2.

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