This alone is a reason to switch to FreeBSD 5.x

[yesthattom]

http://people.freebsd.org/~rse/snapshot/ (because I love NetApp-style snapshots and now I can get them on FreeBSD)

Comments

[rainbear.livejournal.com]

:) Yeah it's a very nifty feature--I can't wait to start playing with it :)

[kazmat.livejournal.com]

Now if only FreeBSD 5 was production ready...

[labrown.livejournal.com]

Wow! Are they true delta-based snapshots like the NetApp? That'll rock!

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Yes! Block-by-block delta. It's been in FreeBSD 5.x for a while, but this finally gives you a way to manage all those snapshots the same was as a NetApp.

The snapshot feature came nearly "free" from adding the new 'soft writes' feature that speeds up/eliminates fsck in the Berkeley FFS. The fascinating articles are linked to from here

Tom