Re: making a huge fileserver



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 10/01/06 18:55, Hern?n Freschi wrote:
Hi folks, I know this may be not the right place to ask, but I thought
I'd give it a try.

I'm trying to build a fileserver. A small, but extensible one. I plan to
start with 500GB and grow from there. Obviously, I want redundancy, so I
want it to be a software RAID. I don't care too much about performance
because I'll read those files over a low traffic network.

I think the RAID level I want is RAID-5, which, if I understand
correctly, lets me have an arbitrary number of disks, as long as I have
3 or more. The filesystem of choice is XFS because I'd be storing big
files (think DVD ISOs, and worse yet: hard disk images for immediate
recovery) on the fileserver.

The question is: What are the possibilities for growth on that array? I
read that it is not easy to add more disks to a RAID-5, but that is just
what I want. Suppose I buy 3 320GB disks making a 640GB array. Then I
fill that up and just buy a new drive, grow the array, and grow the XFS
filesystem. Is that possible/stable/secure/production-ready?

Google suggested this: www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/LVM_on_RAID
But I think it's not what I want. I think the article says that I can
add more ARRAYS to the LVM. That is, every time I want to add a new
drive I'd need to buy 3 more. Is that so?

According to this page, kernel 2.6.17 and mdadm 2.5.2 allows you to
add volumes to software RAID-5. Search for the string:
mdadm 2.5.2 it is possible

http://www.gagme.com/greg/linux/raid-lvm.php



- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA

Is "common sense" really valid?
For example, it is "common sense" to white-power racists that
whites are superior to blacks, and that those with brown skins
are mud people.
However, that "common sense" is obviously wrong.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFFIM12S9HxQb37XmcRAoJAAKCIWR/z4PypAfN1Jk11HJbKdYFWtwCfc4h8
mRso4SvQiQ58R0LmtfUR/MM=
=S2kv
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Relevant Pages

  • making a huge fileserver
    ... I think the RAID level I want is RAID-5, which, if I understand correctly, lets me have an arbitrary number of disks, as long as I have 3 or more. ... The filesystem of choice is XFS because I'd be storing big files on the fileserver. ... What are the possibilities for growth on that array? ... To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of "unsubscribe". ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: building on your own a large data storage ...
    ... RAID-5 array because doing I/O on two devices on the same IDE ... primary IDE port and one on the secondary IDE port. ... understanding the trade-offs (partioning an array of disks vs. ... When a fan goes ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: Clustering Newbie - SAN Advice
    ... I have not used that particular unit, bit it does meet my basic criteria of having the controllers and cache on-board the array. ... Senior SQL Infrastructure Consultant ... A SAN generally has gigabtes of cache and uses large internal block sizes ... The SAN or Smart array will dictate what internal connection the disks have. ...
    (microsoft.public.sqlserver.clustering)
  • SUMMARY: Network attached storage ideas
    ... Let me start by clarifying that the issue with Solaris ... and NFS is not with Solaris but with how the Snaps ... 3310/3311/3510 array). ... more expensive SCSI or FC disks. ...
    (SunManagers)
  • Re: New disks in 7026
    ... Subject: New disks in 7026 ... Would I create a second array with these two disks? ... drives as non-array drives, but not add to an existing array. ... Array -> IBM PCI SCSI Disk Array -> PCI SCSI Disk Array Manager, ...
    (AIX-L)