Bug 521173

Sorry - the Release notes are being updated with correct status.

Full XFS support is not included in RHEL. We have done some kernel enablement but not complete support in the operating system. If you need XFS support, please contact your account team for future product support.

But, without mkfs.xfs from xfsprogs, how can I test the kernel xfs feature?

My understanding from what was said during the Summit was that the XFS userspace tools are available from a special channel in RHN upon request (perhaps for extra $$?)

Anyone knows which channel contains the package?

Please refer to https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=521173#c2

XFS is supported as a layered product, so you need to contact your account team to get information about where that channel is and how to get access.

Please considering including this in the base release for 32bit and 64bit.
Thank you.   (only thing keeping me having to use SUSE)

To whom it may concern. You forgot to include xfsprogs and xfsdump packages which means XFS support in 5.4 is basically crippled, useless.

Put xfsprogs and xfsdump in the repository already.

Support XFS for real!

Signed, a paying customer.

XFS is supported as a layered product, so you need to contact your support/ account team to get information about where that channel is and how to get access, for now.

Thanks,
-Eric

But I get different answers from different people.  I am told it is a layered product, but no one seems to be able to tell me that the product or channel is.  I was told by one that it is only available with the Advanced Server products and if I have that, the package will be there, but it is now.  I am still waiting on a correct response through here or through the ticket I opened through the support site some weeks ago.

You probably need to work through your Sales Rep for access to the channel (this is where support pointed us).

I haven't gone down this road yet so I don't know what your odds of success are.  My impression is they'll want a better use case than "just testing", and it might even help if you're an ISV.

Pure speculation on my part however.

Uh...

I can yum install these components so why were these eliminated from the install media to prevent me from formatting the / partition as XFS?

Are you guys actively undermining the functionality to push people to other distributions?

Maybe switch to CentOS-5 is a good choice for us who need XFS support.
Red Hat should rethink the strategy of 'the hidden channel of hidden packages'.

Nobody knows how to get the xfsprogs, noone knows which services contains the package.

These aren't the packages you're looking for. Move along.

This is why we've already started migrating our RHEL licenses to Centos as they expire.

RHEL, another product destroyed by lack of vision.

We have commented multiple times on how to get the xfs user space programs (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=521173#c2, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=521173#c9, etc).

Note that Red Hat employs several key XFS developers who did the work to enable XFS in the kernel and udpated the user space utilities. We certainly want to make this work for our users.

We do recognize how frustrating this process has been and are working to resolve this going forward. In the meantime, if you are a paying RHEL customer, talk to your account team for a supported version of the tools.

I wanted to add that for me this was a really frustrating issues and has been for some time.  I did post here about the need to include it, I tried contacting my account rep, tried opening a redhat support case when the above seem to get me nowhere, but I persisted as it was get this working or move more servers to another distribution (it has to be a supported distribution because of job and security concerns).  My case got escalated to people in the know and I got a phone call very quickly when it got in their hands.  We spent an hour on the phone about this and other issues.  I was able to get the files I needed then, a description of what was going on and how it took so long to get a response, and I am still getting followups of things will happen.  I went from VERY frustrated, upset, etc... to understanding and pleased with how they are progressing on things.  My main reason for writing this is to let you know that contacting you account team and working it will get results, that the problem is really being worked on and information is being disseminated to the support people, and that you should not have that hard of a time now getting the info.

I'm glad you were able to move forward but the fact you had to is what's telling.

Customer's should not be the ones to ump through hoops to get basic functionality supported -- especially given the admission that XFS is a core feature.  

The issue is that this "core" feature fell off the table and RH didn't notice until customers had to waste their time.  That's the whole point of paying RH -- to avoid expending internal resources for OS support.  This obviates the support model: Might as well go with Centos.

So if this has been "addressed" when will we see XFS support in the installation media so that we can deploy XFS root partitions without having to bastardize the install process?

If you're referring to XFS as "core" technology in a general sense, then yes, maybe there is some basis for complaining as it has taken a long time for it to reach RHEL.

However, from a support standpoint, as I understand it, xfs is still a "Tech Preview" and thus not supported.  It's a little misleading to refer to something unsupported as a "core" feature...

Really folks, if you need this badly enough you can get access to the userspace utilities via your support channels.  If you don't, well, I bet you can easily wait until 5.5 for "official" support.

Darin, as mentioned in comment #9, XFS is not at this time "basic functionality" for RHEL5.4.  It is currently a layered product, and you'll need to talk to your support folks about how to get access to that.

The feature did not fall off the table; there are currently some intentional restrictions (for lack of a better word) in place for xfs support, the most obvious of which is the fact that it is a layered product and not in the base OS.  As such, there is no installation support at this time.  If xfs root is important to you, let your support folks know so that it can be considered for future releases.  As a customer, you have the opportunity to let us know your needs and usecases.  While of course I cannot make promises about future products, it is this sort of feedback that helps guide product decisions.

Thanks,
-Eric

The problem is that the simple perception of XFS support can be installed with a "yum install" post deployment from the RHEL servers is a de facto support of XFS on 5.4.

If you're going to make them available on the yum-mirrors post-install then place them on the install media.  By not doing so you're just wasting your customer's time and goodwill.

If they aren't supported then don't make them generally available.

Hi Darin,

As we stated earlier in this BZ, XFS is fully supported in RHEL5.4 but only as a limited availability, layered product. The utilities are not on the install  media or on the normal 5.4 update channel. This is not a bug or an accidental omission (which is why this BZ got closed months back).

The kernel modules are built into 5.4, the supported user space from us can be obtained by talking to your account team and getting the layered product. As a new offering from red hat, we hope to do a limited roll out of supported xfs in 5.4 but will be revisiting how this is done going forward.

Development (us) and our product management team are always open to feedback about use cases. If you are a red hat customer, please pass your feedback (positive or negative) about xfs and how it is distributed to your account team.

Sorry for the confusion.

(In reply to comment #21)
> The kernel modules are built into 5.4, the supported user space from us can be
> obtained by talking to your account team and getting the layered product. As a
> new offering from red hat, we hope to do a limited roll out of supported xfs in
> 5.4 but will be revisiting how this is done going forward.
You mean 5.5?

Will it be supported as 'core feature' in RHEL-5.6?

It is a layered product in RHEL5.6 as well.

Could someone please explain what is meant by "layered product" in the context of this discussion?

Layered products are things not included by default in the base RHEL package.

GFS2 support for example or RHEL cluster support are both examples...

Hope this helps,

Ric