Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

I guess I'm just stuck on the concept that since mv DOESN'T actually, physically move a file from one place to another (when we're talking about oshun's original scenario), everything would take place on the remote drive. But, apparently, that's incorrect.

[kubicle]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

I guess I'm just stuck on the concept that since mv DOESN'T actually, physically move a file from one place to another (when we're talking about oshun's original scenario), everything would take place on the remote drive. But, apparently, that's incorrect.

Copying is different from moving, since copying always requires duplication of the data (as does moving when you're not moving within the filesystem).

@oshunluvr
Your test description wasn't immediately clear to me, where you copying within a single mount or between two mounts?

[oshunluvr]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

On the server: two different mounted partitions
On the client: same two partitions as above, mounted via nfs as a single mount.

I didn't want to leave this distinction hanging...
...a finer point on mv - moving will require a duplication of data IF the target is not on the same file system as the source. If source and target are on the same file system, no data is transferred - just meta data.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

I guess I'm just stuck on the concept that since mv DOESN'T actually, physically move a file from one place to another (when we're talking about oshun's original scenario), everything would take place on the remote drive. But, apparently, that's incorrect.

Copying is different from moving, since copying always requires duplication of the data (as does moving when you're not moving within the filesystem).

Yes, I know that--and oshun's OP says: "I was moving some files..."

I didn't want to leave this distinction hanging...
...a finer point on mv - moving will require a duplication of data IF the target is not on the same file system as the source. If source and target are on the same file system, no data is transferred - just meta data.

Right, but, again, your OP implied that the files were on and being moved to the same file system.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

Yeah Steve, you got it. So I suppose then a temp file is created on the client, thus the doubling of time?

Possibly...largely depends on the internals of the copy command and how it buffers (or in some cases double-buffers). In your second test, where you issued the command from a network-attached client, the data travels over the network twice.

On the server: two different mounted partitions
On the client: same two partitions as above, mounted via nfs as a single mount.

I didn't want to leave this distinction hanging...
...a finer point on mv - moving will require a duplication of data IF the target is not on the same file system as the source. If source and target are on the same file system, no data is transferred - just meta data.

An interesting test would be to mv a file from one location to another on the same partition, but issue the command from the client rather than being ssh'ed into the server.

[kubicle]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

An interesting test would be to mv a file from one location to another on the same partition, but issue the command from the client rather than being ssh'ed into the server.

If you run move or copy on a single file system, I would suspect there will be no difference between local and remote operations (copy will take longer than move, of course). I don't use NFS (I do everything via ssh), but I would really be surprised if there was data moving on the network (not saying it doesn't happen, just that I would be surprised ).

EDIT: I'll take that a back a bit, I would be really surprised if move transfers data over the network, I would be only slightly surprised if copy transfers files over the network. Does NFS come with server side copy?

EDIT2: I'll answer my own question:
http://nfsv4bat.org/Documents/Connec...-copy-spec.pdf

[oshunluvr]

Re: Moving files on server / NFS mounts using Dolphin - How does this happen?

mv works as expected using dolphin on the share. In other words - quick as a flash if on the same file system.

All of the operations I was doing were cross-file system.