Topic: SME 5.6 and 2 GB file size limit?

[Jim Huneycutt]

Does anyone know if v5.6 solves the 2 GB file size limit? I have seen the question asked in the forum but no one answered.

Thanks,
jim

[Bob Todd]

if u mean the 2Gb backup to tar problem I believe that it doesnt solve this - sure theres a thread in here somewhere on the subject, or was it a howto ..... cant remember but basically there was a script mentioned that created a series of 2Gb files for backup purposes.

[Cyrus Bharda]

Isnt there anyway of changing the backup to just make 2GB files?

Cyrus Bharda

[Bob Todd]

thats what the script I saw did - it generated a series of files, u had to give it a list of names - so to backup 10Gb say u had to pass it file1,file2,file3,file4,file5

[Jim Huneycutt]

This forum mentions several utilities and methods that "bypass" the 2GB limit for backups - I find them all impractical - especially when trying to sell a client on using an eSmith server instead of say, a Windows 2000 server, which has no such limit. The 2GB limit gives buyers the impression of an outdated server and trying to explain to a client who is using NTbackup to backup his workstations to the Windows server that he will have to break up his files into multiple pieces, or that the nifty "Backup to Desktop" feature in server-manager will not work if he exceeds 2GB is tough. I was only hoping that the issue had been addressed with the new release.

Apparently this is not the case.
jim

[Kelvin]

Hi Jim,

I have never had the chance to verify this and so if anyone else already done so, please share.

There is a howto on configuring flexbackup to backup to a Windows share (say on a W2K server that has a tape drive). Now, we know flexbackup has no problem when backing up gigs and gigs of data to tape. If the same holds true of the backup file it generates on the Windows share, then this, I believe is a more sensible approach to backup than to do a backup to desktop from server manager (which cannot be automated) while we can schedule a backup to the windows share. I have done this and it works fine but have not had a site who has that much data on the SME server to backup as yet (largest backup set I saw was 1.5GB).

If you are selling the idea to a client who does not have any other server on hand, then you should consider telling them to put in a tape drive (which does not have the 2GB limit). Backup to desktop, to me, is only ever useful for sites that only use the SME server as a mail server and / or gateway only where the backup set is usually not very big.

Just my 2 cents.

Kelvin

[Noah Berlove]

Jim,

I believe the 2.4 kernel and the ext3 filesystem (both new in 5.6) have a file size limit of 1 tera-byte and a file system limit of 2 TB's (this is from memory, but I am sure the order of magnitude is correct).  There are ways to achieve higher limits, but I'm assuming Mitel stuck with the default configurations.  In any case, the 2 GB limit should be a thing of the past.

Noah

[Scott Smith]

However, when doing a backup to desktop, your backup file size is still limited by the desktop system. Win9x systems will not be able to create backups beyond 2GB. WinNT (some? all?) are limited at 4GB.

[Kelvin]

For the record,

Win9x systems using FAT16 = 2GB Limit (max. single file size)
Win9x systems using FAT32 = 4GB Limit (max. single file size)
WinNT/2K/XP using NTFS >>>>> 4GB (I forget the number but who cares!).

I know this keeps coming up but you only have a 4GB limit in NT/2K/XP systems if you did not set it up correctly, not because NT/2K/XP cannot handle files > 4GB.

Kelvin

[Noah Berlove]

Kelvin wrote:
>
> For the record,
>
> WinNT/2K/XP using NTFS >>>>> 4GB (I forget the number but who
> cares!).

I think you meant Tera-bytes, not Giga-bytes!
                          ~

Noah

[Kelvin]

> WinNT/2K/XP using NTFS >>>>> 4GB (I forget the number but who
> cares!).

>I think you meant Tera-bytes, not Giga-bytes!
>~


Hence the >>>>>>>> !

Kelvin

[Jim Huneycutt]

Thanks for the replies.

I am happy to report that I did an upgrade from 5.5 to 5.6 on one of my servers last night and all went well so far. The good news is that after mapping a drive from a Win XP workstation to the e-Smith 5.6 server, I was able to copy a 10 GB+ file to the 5.6 server. This has always failed in past versions. So I believe Noah is correct, the 2GB limit is gone!

Yet to be tested are the server-manager backup to desktop, tape backup, etc. for large files. So if anyone has done this already or has other test results related to the file size problem, please post the news.

Thanks,
jim