Getting " EXT4-fs: Can't allocate: Allocation context details" errors in logs while using ext4 with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 and higher

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • Randomly an ext4 filesystem will begin to create the following types of messages under /var/log/messages: 
kernel: EXT4-fs: Can't allocate: Allocation context details:
kernel: EXT4-fs: status 1 flags 0
kernel: EXT4-fs: orig 2240/0/1@0, goal 2240/0/1@0, best 0/0/0@0 cr 3
kernel: EXT4-fs: 0 scanned, 0 found
kernel: EXT4-fs: groups:
  • These messages are followed by extensive data corruption.

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 6 or later
  • Ext4 filesystem
  • RAID Array

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