XFS check

I wanted to check the consistency of the data partition on one of my servers. It is 6.5TB and formatted with XFS, so I ran :

#xfs_check /dev/sdb1

And I got :

xfs_check: out of memory

After some searching, it turns out that a lot of memory is needed to perform the xfs_check on a large file system : >6GB and you need to run it on 64bit, to able to address that memory.

My system is a 32-bit with only 4GB, so I would probably not be able to run xfs_check on my system, but there is another way :

#xfs_repair -n /dev/sdb1

This tools tries to repair a XFS filesystem, but with the -n switch no changes are written to the file system, so the effect is quite the same. It still uses a lot of memory if you have a lot of files/inodes on the file system, but 3GB on a 32-bit system should be sufficient.

Of course, if xfs_repair finds a problem, you can still run it without the -n switch, to repair the filesystem.

All time favorites : games

I've recently rediscovered the wonderful pass time of gaming. And I was thinking of a few great games I played in the past, in alphabetical order :

• Assassin's Creed II
• Exile (Myst III)
• Grim Fandango
• Riven, the sequel to Myst

They earned a position in this list because of the mere of beauty of the game, which was usually a combination of graphics, music, scenery, atmosphere and gameplay.

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year!

May 2011 be a year of friendship, love, joy and happiness, good health and prosperity!

2010

A lot of things happened in 2010. I'm not going to write an exhaustive list, but will just mention things that spring to mind.
On a technological level : I got my new server and installed linux on it, I learned to use vim and git, and started contributing to the Open Source community by joining the phpMyAdmin development team. I visited FOSDEM for the first time and will certainly do so this year.
On a professional level : I created a new website for my department using Drupal, and installed a new backup server.

One of my resolutions for 2010 was to read more, and I achieved this. If possible I read a chapter every evening, and I hope to continue doing this in the new year.
I also spent quite some time playing games, watching films and series and (re)discovered some music. Some of the highlights of the year : Assissin's Creed II, the best game I played in years; Isbells and Mumford & Sons, the latter doing some great gigs; and 1984, classic by George Orwell. :)

And I met a lot of interesting people, made new friends and got to know some people better.

Resolutions 2011

Bit a more of the same of last year. I made some progress, but there is always room for improvement :

• Smile (even) more!
• Enjoy more and worry less
• Continue reading
• Be more confident
• Look for a new place to live