Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Tikanga) EXT3 files
Linux - ServerThis forum is for the discussion of Linux Software used in a server related context.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Tikanga) EXT3 files
Hi
Trying to delete Oracle Database files 4.3 terrabytes worth, there is few hundred files most are around 12gb in size, and its taking a very long time , is there a logical reason for it and is there a quicker method? then rm -f *
Is this on a RAID volume? Did you mount the directory as a separate partition or is it mounted at the root of /? Are you certain that Oracle isn't trying to lock these files in anyway? They sound like huge files, which can take a long time to delete especially on a journaling file system. So if your removing a large set of large files on a striped RAID volume on a journaling files system, then yes it can take a very long time..
There were no Oralce users on the system, and the disks are mirrored from the hardware level 0+1 or Raid 5, not 100% , it took about 5.5 hours to delete 4.3 terrabytes , is that normal ?
Well its hard to determine that without a lot more details. The slowness your experiencing could be caused by several things. You have to take into consideration your RAID controller as well as your disk speed. It could take that long considering how large the files are. Personally I've never blanket deleted that large of a data set before, but from experience doing anything large on a RAID array seems to take forever.
Ok thanks for you reply, learning a bit more, I'm used to OPEN VMS, where it would delete that in a matter of minutes .Diffrent OS and diffrent results.I'm trying to find more about ext3 disks and what actually occurs when it deletes.
I found a good explanation from Ubuntu on the different limitations of Linux file systems, it explains in detail what happens when you delete a file from a Linux system
One issue is updating all the free block lists... the larger the file, the longer it takes.
Another happens with lots of small files (you don't have this)... directory rebuilds take longer
IF you happen to be deleting all files on a filesystem... it is actually faster to dismount and do a mkfs.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.