PowerScale OneFS 9.8.0.0 Web Administration Guide

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Write caching for asynchronous writes

Writing to the cluster asynchronously with write caching is the fastest method of writing data to your cluster.

Write caching for asynchronous writes requires fewer cluster resources than write caching for synchronous writes, and improves overall cluster performance for most workflows. However, there is some risk of data loss with asynchronous writes.

The following table describes the risk of data loss for each protocol when write caching for asynchronous writes is enabled:

Table 1. Protocol RisksThe following table describes the risk of data loss for each protocol when write caching for asynchronous writes is enabled.
Protocol	Risk
NFS	If a node fails, no data is lost except in the unlikely event that a client of that node is unresponsive before it can reconnect to the cluster. In that situation, asynchronous writes that have not been committed to disk is lost.
SMB	If a node fails, asynchronous writes that have not been committed to disk is lost.

It is recommended that you do not disable write caching, regardless of the protocol that you are writing with. If you are writing to the cluster with asynchronous writes, and you decide that the risks of data loss are too great, it is recommended that you configure your clients to use synchronous writes, rather than disable write caching.