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Date:   Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:55:04 -0400
From:   "Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
To:     Paul Menzel <pmenzel@molgen.mpg.de>
Cc:     linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
        Donald Buczek <buczek@molgen.mpg.de>
Subject: Re: File system for scratch space (in HPC cluster)
Message-ID: <20191024145504.GD1124@mit.edu>
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On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 12:43:40PM +0200, Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> In our cluster, we offer scratch space for temporary files. As
> these files are temporary, we do not need any safety
> requirements – especially not those when the system crashes or
> shuts down. So no `sync` is for example needed.
> 
> Are there file systems catering to this need? I couldn’t find
> any? Maybe I missed some options for existing file systems.

You could use ext4 in nojournal mode.  If you want to make sure that
fsync() doesn't force a cache flush, you can mount with the nobarrier
mount option.

					- Ted