Re: [Nbd] Swapping over Nbd

[Wouter Verhelst <wouter@...3...>]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 10:49:36PM +0100, Paolo Salvan wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> ...I've googled for two hours about using nbd as a network swap solution 
> for low-memory thinclients... (I'm a developer of the thinstation.sf.net 
> project), but there is some unanswered questions:
> 
> - How reliable is it?

Unknown. Though NBD was initially created for exactly that purpose, I
don't think anyone has tried it since the 2.2 ages.

> - At the current state of development, do I need to patch the kernel or not?

Yes, absolutely. The main problem is that without such a patch, swapping
over an NBD device is unsafe in that there is no guarantee that writing
to the NBD device will not need some extra memory.

However, I don't think you'll still find a patch that applies to a
recent kernel and actually works.

> - If yes, where can I find the patch?

See above.

> Which kernel version are supported?

Only 2.2, I'm afraid.

> Is it actively supported?

No.

> Only 2.4.x branch or 2.6.x also?
> 
> - nbd-server: how can I serve a different swap file for every thinclient 
> of a network? Is there a different solution than having a nbd-server 
> waiting at a different port for each thinclients?

Use %s in the file name; this will be replaced by the IP address of the
client trying to connect. A better solution to that is considered for
future versions, but one thing at a time ;-)

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