RAM DISK Filesystem options
 

We are currently running a ext2 formatted ramdisk in diskless units. We need a static sized filesystem. All the articles we have found in searches seem to be pretty old. Are the other options that might provide better performance or capabilities? Is there an article out there that articulates different options particularly well?

Depends how early in the boot sequence you need the f/s.
RAMDISK is so last century, but it does have some (very specific) uses. Presuming you can mount after the kernel has loaded, look at using a tmpfs instead - you don't need to set it up or format a f/s; all handled in kernel cache. You can set a max size as well.

When the lxr site comes back online have a read of this (or look in your kernel source tree if you have it).

Edit: you said "static sized" - I gave you a maximum size option. Is "static" an absolute requirement ?.

I see that ramfs will continue growing until RAM runs out, this is not good us. While I have turned off all logging and auditing gets sent to a centralized server, I am not sure how long it would take to max RAM with ramfs.

tmpfs also does not look like an option as all the examples I have seen require a nfs or afs server to serve out the root partition.

Our systems have to be self reliant after PXE booting. Thanks for for your time.