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<h2>
<b><font face="ARIAL NARROW,HELVETICA">XFS Beta Release</font></b></h2>
<p>
On September 22, SGI released the beta version of its high-end XFS file
system ported to Linux®. As a leading supporter of Linux and the open source
movement, SGI is providing business-critical infrastructure for Linux
through porting such solid and high-performance software as XFS to Linux and
making it available to the community.
</p>
<p>
Existing file systems for Linux entail significant limitations in
scalability and stability. Unlike other journaled file systems currently
under development, XFS is a mature technology that has been proven on
thousands of IRIX systems for over six years. It is widely recognized as the
industry's leading high-performance file system. SGI has now optimized XFS
for Linux users, providing the same flexible, high-capacity, and reliable
file system as before. Features such as instantaneous recovery from disk
crashes and the ability to support extremely large disk farms will establish
XFS as the production quality file system for Linux. Furthermore, porting
XFS to Linux is helping advance some of the Linux kernel infrastructure such
as the VM subsystem and the block device interface.
</p>
<p>
For a comparison of journaled filesystems, see the article
<a href="http://linuxgazette.com/issue55/florido.html">
Journal File Systems</a> in issue 55 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>.
</p>
<p>
For participation in the Beta program,
please contact:
</p>
<p>
<ul>
Yi Li
<br>
Product Manager
<br>
Networking and Clustering, SGI
<br>
Phone: 650-933-6639
<br>
Fax: 650-933-0701
</ul>
</pr>
<h3>XFS Beta Availability and Release Caveats</h3>
<p>
The XFS beta is available to SGI's customers via a
<a href="beta_propack.html">ProPack</a>
distribution, and is also being made available as a
<a href="beta_source.html">patch</A> against
linux-2.4.0-test5,
and as a set of
<a href="beta_rpm.html">RPMs</a>.
</p>
<p>
Before installing the XFS filesystem for Linux,
you should look over the <a href="beta_caveats.html">XFS Beta Release Caveats</A>
for a list of limitations, requirements, and special instructions
for this release.
</p>
<h3>Installation Notes and Instructions</h3>
Because this Beta release requires a 2.4 kernel, it may require some
updates to your system if you are currently running the 2.2.x series
kernels. Please see the latest
<a href="http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/kaboom/linux/Changes-2.4/changes24.html">
Linux 2.4 Changes</a> document for details on the minimum levels of software
necessary to install and run a Linux 2.4 kernel.
<p>
Step by step instructions are available for the following installations:
<ul>
<li><a href="beta_propack.html">ProPack 1.4</A> installation</li>
<li><a href="beta_rpm.html">Red Hat RPM</A> installation</li>
<li><a href="beta_source.html">Source</a> installation</li>
</ul>
</p>
<h3>Working with XFS filesystems</h3>
Information on XFS filesystems is available
in the <a href="faq.html">XFS FAQ</a> and the
<a href="manpages.html">XFS man pages</a>. The
following pages provide additional information:
<ul>
<li>For general administration instructions, see
<a href="beta_filesystem_install.html">Working with XFS Filesystems</a></li>.
<li>For information on using the <tt>kio</tt> and <tt>kiocluster</tt>
options of the <tt>mount</tt> command, see
<a href="mount_kio.html">XFS Mount Options: kio and kiocluster</a>
</ul>
<h3>Questions and Problems</h3>
If you have any questions or problems with the installation or
administration of the beta release of XFS for Linux, you can
send email to </i><a href="mailto:linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com">linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com</a>.
<br>
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