Creating Btrfs Subvolumes and Snapshots

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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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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Apr 06, 2025

Duration

30m

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

Challenge

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

Create the user and admin subvolumes in the /mnt/data filesystem:

btrfs subvolume create /mnt/data/user
btrfs subvolume create /mnt/data/admin

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

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

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
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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