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Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 9. May 2014, 17:23
by Smackey's dad
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 9. May 2014, 17:33
by loukingjr
My understanding of the POSIX standard is that it is the OS that has to meet the standard. Not the drive it's on. If you install a Guest OS that is POSIX compliant then yes. (or I don't understand POSIX).
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 9. May 2014, 20:58
by Smackey's dad
Since it is a single VB service that hits the disk even though they are multiple VMs I am guessing POSIX compliance may not matter at that level - one process one file.
Within that file (or file system when viewed from a VM), when multiple VMs collide and try to manage the same file within, with each one being a separate process I think POSIX compliance kicks in - one file, multiple process.
I am no POSIX expert myself and your reply does make me think there may be even more to this than I initially anticipated.

Came across a POSIX compliance test script -
http://wiki.lustre.org/index.php/POSIX_ ... ce_Testing
May be worthwhile to run it and see what happens
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 9. May 2014, 21:06
by loukingjr
not for me. I never run fixed virtual disks. ever.
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 12:23
by Smackey's dad
loukingjr, thanks for your response:
not for me. I never run fixed virtual disks. ever.
For those who don't mind running fixed disks or even for you, loukingjr, if you have a need to run a POSIX compliant cluster file system (and who can argue with requirements), does VB support POSIX?
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 12:37
by loukingjr
Smackey's dad wrote:loukingjr, thanks for your response:
not for me. I never run fixed virtual disks. ever.
For those who don't mind running fixed disks or even for you, loukingjr, if you have a need to run a POSIX compliant cluster file system (and who can argue with requirements), does VB support POSIX?
I forgot I replied to this thread. My choice not to use fixed disks has nothing to do with the fact that "I mind".

It has to do with the fact I run up to 50 guests at a time and having 50 50GB fixed disks would definitely be a space problem. I also have no need to run a POSIX cluster file system. At any rate, I still think VB has nothing to do with any of it. My impression is, if you run a POSIX compatible OS it will create a POSIX compatible disk and any POSIX compatible OS can utilize such disks.
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 15:04
by mpack
@Smackey's dad:
Turn this on its head.
What does POSIX disk compliance require at a hardware level? If you can answer that question then you should answer your VirtualBox question too, since VBox is a hardware simulator. I'm not interested in POSIX, so I'm not going to bother reading about it: but if it's a set of timing or reliability requirements that they wouldn't be relevant to a simulation.
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 15:19
by loukingjr
not to continue this but the POSIX standard came out in 1988 and has been updated on occasion. It was part of a project started by Richard Stallman in 1985. It only deals with Unix/Linux based OS's so if one is running something such as Windows for example, it's a moot point. OSX Mavericks is fully compliant. whoopee.

Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 15:34
by mpack
I'm aware of POSIX as a standard library, I was ignorant of any relevance it might have to hardware issues. I should mention that I treasure my ignorance of this subject...
As a programmer in a mostly embedded environment I've found it most productive to ignore all forms of standard library. I've been surprised that nobody who downloads the CloneVDI sources has ever commented on the fact that it doesn't use the C standard library (or POSIX!), and it segregates all use of the Win32 API as well.
Re: Shareable hard disks and POSIX compliance
Posted: 19. May 2014, 15:35
by loukingjr
and as I mentioned, I don't think it has a thing to do with VirtualBox
