TUNEFS(8) System Manager's Manual TUNEFS(8)
NAME
tunefs - tune up an existing file system
SYNOPSIS
tunefs [-AN] [-a maxcontig] [-d rotdelay] [-e maxbpg] [-m minfree]
[-o optimize_preference] [-t trackskew] [special | filesys]
DESCRIPTION
The tunefs program is designed to change the dynamic parameters of a file
system which affect the layout policies. The -N flag displays all the
settable options (after any changes from the tuning options) but does not
cause any of them to be changed. The -A flag causes the values to be
updated in all the alternate superblocks instead of just the standard
superblock. If this option is not used, then use of a backup superblock
by fsck(8) will lose anything changed by tunefs. The -A flag is ignored
when the -N flag is specified.
The parameters which are to be changed are indicated by the flags given
below:
-a maxcontig
This specifies the maximum number of contiguous blocks that will
be laid out before forcing a rotational delay (see -d below).
The default value is one, since most device drivers require an
interrupt per disk transfer. Device drivers that can chain sev-
eral buffers together in a single transfer should set this to the
maximum chain length.
-d rotdelay
This specifies the expected time (in milliseconds) to service a
transfer completion interrupt and initiate a new transfer on the
same disk. It is used to decide how much rotational spacing to
place between successive blocks in a file.
-e maxbpg
This indicates the maximum number of blocks any single file can
allocate out of a cylinder group before it is forced to begin
allocating blocks from another cylinder group. Typically this
value is set to about one quarter of the total blocks in a cylin-
der group. The intent is to prevent any single file from using
up all the blocks in a single cylinder group, thus degrading
access times for all files subsequently allocated in that cylin-
der group. The effect of this limit is to cause big files to do
long seeks more frequently than if they were allowed to allocate
all the blocks in a cylinder group before seeking elsewhere. For
file systems with exclusively large files, this parameter should
be set higher.
-m minfree
This value specifies the percentage of space held back from nor-
mal users; the minimum free space threshold. The default value
used is 10%. This value can be set to zero, however up to a fac-
tor of three in throughput will be lost over the performance
obtained at a 10% threshold. Note that if the value is raised
above the current usage level, users will be unable to allocate
files until enough files have been deleted to get under the
higher threshold.
-o optimize_preference
The file system can either try to minimize the time spent allo-
cating blocks, or it can attempt to minimize the space fragmenta-
tion on the disk. If the value of minfree (see above) is less
than 10%, then the file system should optimize for space to avoid
running out of full sized blocks. For values of minfree greater
than or equal to 10%, fragmentation is unlikely to be problemati-
cal, and the file system can be optimized for time.
-t trackskew
This specifies the skew in sectors from one track to the next in
a cylinder. The default value is zero, indicating that each
track in a cylinder begins at the same rotational position.
SEE ALSO
fs(5), dumpfs(8), fsck(8), newfs(8), mkfs(8)
M. McKusick, W. Joy, S. Leffler, and R. Fabry, "A Fast File System for
UNIX", ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 2, 3, pp 181-197, August
1984, (reprinted in the BSD System Manager's Manual, SMM:5).
BUGS
This program should work on mounted and active file systems. Because the
super-block is not kept in the buffer cache, the changes will only take
effect if the program is run on dismounted file systems. To change the
root file system, the system must be rebooted after the file system is
tuned.
You can tune a file system, but you can't tune a fish.
HISTORY
The tunefs command appeared in 4.2BSD.
4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 3, 1995 4.2 Berkeley Distribution