Add a note about the open(2) and rename(2) on AUFS and OverlayFS

Close #25409
Update #10180

Signed-off-by: Akihiro Suda <suda.akihiro@lab.ntt.co.jp>
This commit is contained in:
Akihiro Suda 2016-08-15 09:43:24 +00:00
parent 5ac0342e82
commit aab101a770
2 changed files with 45 additions and 6 deletions

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@ -91,6 +91,16 @@ a whiteout file in the container's top layer. This whiteout file effectively
existence in the image's read-only layers. This works the same no matter which
of the image's read-only layers the file exists in.
## Renaming directories with the AUFS storage driver
Calling `rename(2)` for a directory is not fully supported on AUFS. It returns
`EXDEV` ("cross-device link not permitted"), even when both of the source and
the destination path are on a same AUFS layer, unless the directory has no
children.
So your application has to be designed so that it can handle `EXDEV` and fall
back to a "copy and unlink" strategy.
## Configure Docker with AUFS
You can only use the AUFS storage driver on Linux systems with AUFS installed.
@ -211,6 +221,13 @@ any of the potential overheads introduced by thin provisioning and
copy-on-write. For this reason, you may want to place heavy write workloads on
data volumes.
## AUFS compatibility
To summarize the AUFS's aspect which is incompatible with other filesystems:
- The AUFS does not fully support the `rename(2)` system call. Your application
needs to detect its failure and fall back to a "copy and unlink" strategy.
## Related information
* [Understand images, containers, and storage drivers](imagesandcontainers.md)

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@ -301,6 +301,13 @@ file in the image layer ("lowerdir") is not deleted. However, the whiteout file
created in the "upperdir". This has the same effect as a whiteout file and
effectively masks the existence of the directory in the image's "lowerdir".
- **Renaming directories**. Calling `rename(2)` for a directory is allowed only
when both of the source and the destination path are on the top layer.
Otherwise, it returns `EXDEV` ("cross-device link not permitted").
So your application has to be designed so that it can handle `EXDEV` and fall
back to a "copy and unlink" strategy.
## Configure Docker with the `overlay`/`overlay2` storage driver
To configure Docker to use the `overlay` storage driver your Docker host must be
@ -386,12 +393,6 @@ large. However, once the file has been copied up, all subsequent writes to that
with AUFS. This is because AUFS supports more layers than OverlayFS and it is
possible to incur far larger latencies if searching through many AUFS layers.
- **RPMs and Yum**. OverlayFS only implements a subset of the POSIX standards.
This can result in certain OverlayFS operations breaking POSIX standards. One
such operation is the *copy-up* operation. Therefore, using `yum` inside of a
container on a Docker host using the `overlay`/`overlay2` storage drivers is
unlikely to work without implementing workarounds.
- **Inode limits**. Use of the `overlay` storage driver can cause excessive
inode consumption. This is especially so as the number of images and containers
on the Docker host grows. A Docker host with a large number of images and lots
@ -413,3 +414,24 @@ performance. This is because they bypass the storage driver and do not incur
any of the potential overheads introduced by thin provisioning and
copy-on-write. For this reason, you should place heavy write workloads on data
volumes.
## OverlayFS compatibility
To summarize the OverlayFS's aspect which is incompatible with other
filesystems:
- **open(2)**. OverlayFS only implements a subset of the POSIX standards.
This can result in certain OverlayFS operations breaking POSIX standards. One
such operation is the *copy-up* operation. Suppose that your application calls
`fd1=open("foo", O_RDONLY)` and then `fd2=open("foo", O_RDWR)`. In this case,
your application expects `fd1` and `fd2` to refer to the same file. However, due
to a copy-up operation that occurs after the first calling to `open(2)`, the
descriptors refer to different files.
`yum` is known to be affected unless the `yum-plugin-ovl` package is installed.
If the `yum-plugin-ovl` package is not available in your distribution (e.g.
RHEL/CentOS prior to 6.8 or 7.2), you may need to run `touch /var/lib/rpm/*`
before running `yum install`.
- **rename(2)**. OverlayFS does not fully support the `rename(2)` system call.
Your application needs to detect its failure and fall back to a "copy and
unlink" strategy.