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Creating Btrfs Subvolumes and Snapshots

The `b-tree` file system, `btrfs`, is a Linux filesystem that implements several advanced features such as volume management, snapshots, and copy-on-write. In this hands-on lab, you will be tasked with creating and interacting with a `btrfs` file system.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 30m
Last updated
Clock icon Apr 06, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Create a btrfs filesystem based on the information provided in the instructions.

    1. Create a btrfs filesystem using /dev/xvdf1, /dev/xvdg1, and /dev/xvdj1:

    mkfs -t btrfs /dev/xvdf1 /dev/xvdg1 /dev/xvdj1

    1. Mount the btrfs filesystem on /mnt/data:

    mount -t btrfs /dev/xvdg1 /mnt/data

    1. Use a text editor (i.e., vim) to open /etc/fstab and add the following entry:

    UUID=filesystem_UUID /mnt/data btrfs defaults 0 0

  2. Challenge

    Create two subvolumes for /mnt/data based on the information provided in the instructions.

    1. Create the user and admin subvolumes in the /mnt/data filesystem:
    btrfs subvolume create /mnt/data/user
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/data/admin
    1. Mount the admin subvolume at /mnt/admin and the user subvolume at /mnt/user:
    mount -t btrfs -o subvol=user /dev/xvdg1 /mnt/user
mount -t btrfs -o subvol=admin /dev/xvdg1 /mnt/admin
    1. Use a text editor (i.e., vim) to open /etc/fstab and add entries for /mnt/user and /mnt/admin:
    UUID=filesystem_UUID       /mnt/user       btrfs   subvol=user,defaults    0 0
UUID=filesystem_UUID       /mnt/admin      btrfs   subvol=admin,defaults   0 0

  3. Challenge

    Add the /dev/xvdj2 device to the filesystem mounted on /mnt/backup

    1. Add /dev/xvdj2 to filesystem mounted on /mnt/backup using the btrfs command:

    btrfs device add /dev/xvdj2 /mnt/backup

    1. Balance the filesystem to spread block groups across all devices:

    btrfs balance start --full-balance /mnt/backup

  4. Challenge

    Create two snapshots of /mnt/backup/user_data based on the information provided in the instructions.

    1. Create a snapshot called user_data_snap” from the user_data volume:

    btrfs subvolume snapshot /mnt/backup/user_data/ /mnt/backup/user_data_snap

    1. Create a read-only snapshot called user_data_snap_ro from the user_data volume:

    btrfs subvolume snapshot -r /mnt/backup/user_data/ /mnt/backup/user_data_snap_ro

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