Jail FS questions.

[Lewis Thompson]

Hi,

  I currently have a bunch of jails running on my FreeBSD box.  I've
done this by making installworld a number of times, each time with a
different DESTDIR (say /jail1, /jail2, /jail3).  Clearly this is using a
significant amount of space on the machine.

  I've been reading about unionfs and nullfs (well, more skim reading
really; I'm not FS guru, which is why I'm asking here) and one of these
sounds like it could be the idea solution.  At first glance I'd say that
unionfs would be the way to go.

  My question about unionfs:  if I use this as a base dir for all of my
jails and decide to ``upgrade'' the base system will it actually work?
I mean, when I start installing stuff through the ports does it ever
modify the base system in any way?  If it does, then surely a base
system upgrade will appear to leave the old ports-created files (because
the upper layer changes override the lower unionfs fs).

  Secondly, I don't really understand nullfs.  Would this be a
``better'' solution than using unionfs?  Maybe it isn't even a solution,
but if it is, a pointer to some useful articles would be great (aside
man mount_nullfs; I've read that but don't fully understand).

  Thanks very much!

-lewiz.

-- 
Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of
scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.
		-- Mary Ellen Kelly
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-| msn:purple at lewiz.net | jab:lewiz at jabber.org | url:http://lewiz.net |-
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