Ordinarily, GFS2 writes only metadata to its journal. File contents are subsequently written to disk by the kernel's periodic sync that flushes file system buffers. An fsync() call on a file causes the file's data to be written to disk immediately. The call returns when the disk reports that all data is safely written.
Data journaling can result in a reduced fsync() time, especially for small files, because the file data is written to the journal in addition to the metadata. An fsync() returns as soon as the data is written to the journal, which can be substantially faster than the time it takes to write the file data to the main file system.
Applications that rely on fsync() to sync file data may see improved performance by using data journaling. Data journaling can be enabled automatically for any GFS2 files created in a flagged directory (and all its subdirectories). Existing files with zero length can also have data journaling turned on or off.
Enabling data journaling on a directory sets the directory to "inherit jdata", which indicates that all files and directories subsequently created in that directory are journaled. You can enable and disable data journaling on a file or a directory with either of the following methods:
Using the chattr command is the preferred way to enable and disable data journaling on a file or directory.
3.7.1. Enabling and Disabling Data Journaling with the chattr Command
You can enable and disable data journaling on a file with the chattr command. The following commands enable data journaling on the /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile file and then check whether the flag has been set properly.
[root@roth-01 ~]# chattr +j /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
[root@roth-01 ~]# lsattr /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir
---------j--- /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
The following commands disable data journaling on the /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile file and then check whether the flag has been set properly.
[root@roth-01 ~]# chattr -j /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
[root@roth-01 ~]# lsattr /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir
------------- /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
You can also use the chattr to set the j flag on a directory. When you set this flag for a directory, all files and directories subsequently created in that directory are journaled. The following set of commands sets the the j flag on the gfs2_dir directory, then checks whether the flag has been set properly. After this, the commands create a new file called newfile in the /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir directory and then check whether the j flag has been set for the file. Since the j flag is set for the directory, then newfile should also have journaling enabled.
[root@roth-01 ~]# chattr -j /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir
[root@roth-01 ~]# lsattr /mnt/gfs2
---------j--- /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir
[root@roth-01 ~]# touch /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
[root@roth-01 ~]# lsattr /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir
---------j--- /mnt/gfs2/gfs2_dir/newfile
