Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Need a new server

[Pandu Poluan]

On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 6:10 PM, Grant <emailgrant@×××××.com> wrote:
>>> Is the Gentoo Software RAID + LVM guide the best place for RAID
>>> install info if I'm not using LVM and I'll have a hardware RAID
>>> controller?
>>
>> Not ready to take the ZFS plunge? That would greatly reduce the complexity
>> of RAID+LVM, since ZFS best practice is to set your hardware raid controller
>> to JBOD mode and let ZFS take care of the RAID - and no LVM required (ZFS
>> has mucho better tools). That is my next big project for when I switch to my
>> next new server.
>>
>> I'm just hoping I can get comfortable with a process for getting ZFS
>> compiled into the kernel that is workable/tenable for ongoing kernel updates
>> (with minimal fear of breaking things due to a complex/fragile
>> methodology)...
>
> That sounds interesting.  I don't think I'm up to it this time around,
> but ZFS manages a RAID array better than a good hardware card?
>

Yes. If you use ZFS to wrestle a JBOD array into its version of
RAID1+0, when comes time for resilvering (i.e., rebuilding a failed
drive), ZFS smartly only copies the used blocks and skips over unused
blocks.

> It sounds like ZFS isn't included in the mainline kernel.  Is it on its way in?
>

Unlikely. There has been a discussion on that in this list, and there
is some concern that ZFS' license (CDDL) is not compatible with the
Linux kernel license (GPL), so never the twain shall be integrated.

That said, if your kernel supports modules, it's a piece of cake to
compile the ZFS modules on your own. @ryao has a zfs-overlay you can
use to emerge ZFS as a module.

If you have configured your kernel to not support modules, it's a bit
more work, but ZFS can still be integrated statically into the kernel.

But the onus is on us ZFS users to do the necessary steps.


Rgds,
-- 
FdS Pandu E Poluan
~ IT Optimizer ~

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