I’ve been exploring ways to optimize my OpenHAB setup, especially since I’m running it on a Raspberry Pi 3. One idea that came to mind was moving the cache and temporary folders to tmpfs. I’ve heard that tmpfs can improve performance by reducing disk I/O, which is a big plus for SD card-based systems like the Pi.
On my development machine, I noticed that every time I restart OpenHAB, a new temp folder is created. This made me wonder if moving these folders to tmpfs would streamline the startup process. I decided to give it a try and here’s what I found:
Pros:
- Reduced Disk I/O: By moving frequently accessed files to memory, I saw a noticeable improvement in responsiveness.
- Faster Startup: The cache doesn’t need to be reloaded from the SD card each time, which should speed up boot times.
Cons:
- Data Loss on Reboot: Since tmpfs is volatile, any data stored there is lost on reboot. This means OpenHAB will need to reload the cache, which might take a bit longer initially.
- Memory Usage: While tmpfs uses unused memory, it’s still something to monitor, especially on resource-constrained devices like the Pi.
I’m curious to hear if others have tried this approach and what their experiences were. Have you noticed any downsides or improvements? I’d love to learn more about how this affects performance in different setups!