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On 15/03/2010 22:29, Andrea Conti wrote: |
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> This IMHO pretty much rules out any kind of server-class hardware, which |
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> tends to be both costly and power-hungry. If you're thinking about |
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> buying used stuff, be sure to factor in the cost and difficulty of |
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> finding spares in some years' time. |
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> |
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I'm considering neither used equipment nor 'server-class' - the workload |
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simply doesn't demand it. |
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> Given the point above I would also stick with software RAID. |
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... |
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> If reliability is your primary concern, I would go for a simple RAID1 |
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> setup; |
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Absolutely. Software raid is cheaper and implies less hardware to |
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fail. Similarly, RAID1 minimises the total number of disks required to |
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survive a failure. It's the only way for me to go. |
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> If you do not need data sharing (i.e. if your volumes are only mounted |
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> by one client at a time), the simplest solution is to completely avoid |
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> having a FS on the storage server side -- just export the raw block |
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> device via iSCSI, and do everything on the client. |
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This idea is on my wavelength. Has anyone on this tried this? My |
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concerns are: |
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|
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1. Are there reliability issues surrounding this technology in Gentoo? |
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2. Are there any howtos about putting as much of the file-system as |
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possible onto an iSCSI device. |
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3. What's the best (most lightweight) way to expose the disk as a block |
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device. I don't want to manage three fully-fledged Linux boxes. Can |
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(cheap) NAS devices be used to export iSCSI to Gentoo? |
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4. What would be the strategy to 'secure' this iSCSI device... it would |
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be a disaster if my WiFi were cracked and my data corrupted from a |
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non-authorised host. |
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|
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> In my experience this also works very well with Windows clients using the free MS iSCSI initiator. |
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> |
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That's fantastic - I had no idea that such software existed. Now, I |
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wonder, what's the most lightweight solution to get a couple of iSCSI |
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devices? Does it help that MS supports attaching devices this way? |
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> File systems: avoid complexity. As technically superior as it might be, |
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> in this kind of setup ZFS is only going to be resource hog and a |
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> maintenance headache; your priority should be having a rock-solid |
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> implementation and a reliable set of diagnostic/repair tools in case |
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> disaster strikes. |
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Yes. Separate arguments for snapshot support are compelling... but there |
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are alternatives without tackling the additional complexity. That said, |
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the iSCSI approach would work as well with ZFS as something mundane. |
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Snap-shots, of course, are only really valuable for non-archive data... |
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so, in future, I could add a ZFS volume using the same iSCSI strategy. |