[Gluster-users] cannot create a new volume with a brick that used to be part of a deleted volume?

[Joe Julian]

On 09/20/2012 11:56 AM, Doug Hunley wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Joe Julian <joe at julianfamily.org> wrote:
>> Because it's a vastly higher priority to preserve data. Just because I
>> delete a volume doesn't mean I want the data deleted. In fact, more often
>> than not, it's quite the opposite. The barrier to data loss is high, and it
>> should remain high.
> OK, again I'll ask: what is a typical scenario for me as a gluster
> admin to delete a volume and want to add one (or more) of its former
> bricks to another volume and keep that data in tact? I can't think of
> a real world example. But I assume they exist as this is the model
> taken by gluster..
True, it may not be as necessary now as it was before 3.3. The way you 
used to change replication levels was to delete the volume, then 
recreate the volume inserting the new replica(s) in the appropriate 
position in the new volume definition.

A number of design decisions are based on admins being able to easily 
implement the software, but to have the freedom to do things "outside 
the box". Since this has been done before and created data loss, that 
safeguard was added. You still have the ability to work outside the box 
but you have to take the few seconds to clear the appropriate xattrs and 
remove the .glusterfs directory.

(As an aside, stating "again I'll ask" comes off as adversarial. I 
assume that was not your intention.)