Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:11:38 +0000 From: Vincent Hoffman <vince@unsane.co.uk> To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Multi node storage, ZFS Message-ID: <4BAA39BA.4070702@unsane.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <4BAA3409.6080406@ionic.co.uk> References: <4BAA3409.6080406@ionic.co.uk>
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On 24/03/2010 15:47, Michal wrote: > I wrote a really long e-mail but realised I could ask this question far > far easier, if it doesn't make sense, the original e-mail is bellow > > Can I use ZFS to create a multinode storage area. Multiple HDD's in > Multiple servers to create one target of, for example, //officestorage > Allowing me to expand the storage space when needed and clients being > able to retrieve data (like RAID0 but over devices not HDD) > At least in theory you could use geom_gate and zfs I suppose, never tried it though. ggatec(8), ggated(8) are your friends for that. Vince > Here is an example I found which is where I'm getting some ideas from > http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-build-a-low-cost-san-p3 > > Any pointers would be helpful, > Thanks > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > I've been searching around and I am finding myself confused and reading > conflicting information. I would like to build a Storage system where by > I have multiple nodes. At the minute I have a number or NAS's which work > well and RAID6 works well in the situation we have, but unfortunately > it's a short-term solution I inherited and once you crunch the numbers > of 6 devices with 6 HDD's in RAID6 you realise how much space you have > wasted then say, 1 device of RAID6 with 36 HDD's (the saving is a fair > few TB) > > There are other issues as well, increasing the size, 3rd party NAS > device features missing which other storage devices have...etc so I > looked around and my grand idea was basically this; > > "Build a system where I can have multiple nodes which create one target > (we will use //officestorage for our example) as opposed to //nas1/ > which is of course 1 device. Using multiple nodes will allow us to add a > new device, thus increasing the space available but the target will > always be the same and to the client nothing has change (other then > available space) (Think of this as RAID0). Multiple nodes will also > allow for redundancy across devices (think RAID1) and give better IO as > it's multiple devices and not just 1 device. I could have devices in > different locations so a whole building could burn down and still not > lose the data" > > > After looking around I found this > > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HighlyAvailableAoETarget > > Which looks quite good, it's basically RAID1 but instead of HDD's it's > across servers, I've used DRBD and it worked well, but this doesn't give > me better IO as only 1 device is live. > > I then found this > > http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-build-a-low-cost-san-p3 > > Which looks fantastic, though I will need a master server to create the > RAID0 and RAID1 across the multiple nodes and then share this out, which > is ok but I would need a hot swap master server, so I'm looking at two > of those. I then started thinking about ZFS, I've heard lots of good > things about it in the past and thinking can ZFS do what I want. I have > read some things which say it can do what that 2nd link does and others > which say it can't. Everything I come across is about using just 1 > device and I could build 1 device with DRBD, but that doesn't help, nor > will it allow me to expand it (if your server runs out of physical space > you can't add more HDD's. > > Anyone point me in the right direction?? > > Thanks > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-stable@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >
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