[lustre-discuss] File migration from one OST to another for Lustre 2.5

[Tung-Han Hsieh]

Dear All,

I have a question about data file migration from one OST to anther
for Lustre 2.5.

Suppose that OST0000 is going to be removed. In the past (I mean,
Lustre-1.8.7), I can do the migration smoothly via the following
procedure:

1. In MDT server, stop writing new files to OST0000:

	lctl set_param osc.foo-OST0000-osc.active=0

2. Find out all files located in OST0000 (suppose that the lustre
   filesystem is mounted at /home):

	lfs find --obd foo-OST0000_UUID /home > OST0000.txt

3. For each file listed in "OST0000.txt", I did:

	cp -a file file.tmp
	mv file.tmp file

   So each file in OST0000 will be replaced by a new copy created
   in other OSTs. If I login into the OST0000 server and use df
   to check, I can see that the disk usage of the OST0000 partition
   is fewer and fewer. Eventually it will go to nearly empty.

4. Finally, remove OST0000 permanently:

	lctl conf_param osc.foo-OST0000-osc.active=0


But for Lustre 2.5, when I repeated the above procedures 1 to 3
(I haven't done step 4), the disk usage of OST0000 still remains
the same, while the disk usage of the other OSTs keep increasing.
Then I interrupt step 3, and check step 2 again, I did see that
many files were disappeared from OST0000. So the migration works.
But since the disk usage of OST0000 did not change at all, it means
that the migrated files still left the "bodies" in OST0000. They
become junks in OST0000.

Is it the normal behavior of Lustre 2.5 ? If I want it to behave
exactly the same as Lustre 1.8.7, how should I do ?

Thanks very much.


T.H.Hsieh