ATA_CAM + ZFS gives short 1-2 seconds system freeze on disk load

[Guido Falsi]

On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 05:18:22PM +0100, Fabian Keil wrote:
> 
> I experienced what I think is the same problem. ZFS's bulk disk flushes
> caused vlc to occasionally stutter when viewing a DVD rip from disk while
> ripping a DVD at the same time.
> 
> My workaround is to put "vfs.zfs.txg.timeout=3" in /boot/loader.conf.
> I think I read about this on zfs-discuss at . I assume on faster systems
> one can use a higher value.

This was a very good idea. I'm trying this and the system freezes much
less if at all.

Are there any drawbacks I should be aware of?

I can imagine that forcing more disk writes somewhat slows down normal
disk activity, but I can bear that on a desktop system.

-- 
Guido Falsi <mad at madpilot.net>