Re: building on your own a large data storage ...
- From: Arno Wagner <me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 4 Jul 2007 14:02:30 GMT
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage lbrtchx@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi,
~
I need to store a really large number of texts and I (could) have a
number of ATA100 S.M.A.R.T.-compliant hard drives, which I would like
to use to somehow build a large and safe (RAID-5?) data store
I would advise RAID5 (or 6) and two independent systems.
Now I am definitely more of a software person (at least
occupationally) and this is what I have in mind:
~
* I will have to use standard (and commercially available (meaning
cheap ;-))) x86-based hardware and open source software
~
* AFAIK you could maximally use 4 hard drives in such boxes
No. I have a fileserver with Linux software RAID and 12 disks.
More would be possible.
* heat dissipation could become a problem with so many hard drives
You need to blow outside air past each.
* I need a reliable and stable power supply
I recommend Enermax. Calculate 25-30W per disk (startup power)
plus 200W for the system.
Should I got for ATA or SATA drives and why?
Sata, cabeling. And you can get SATA controller cards for 8 or 12
disks.
You could use firewire and/or USB cards to plug in that many
harddrives. Wouldn't it be faster/better using extra ATA PCI cards?
What else would it entail? How many such cards could Linux take?
Fireqwire and USB, while a possibility, have visibility issues and
are dreadfukllu slow when used in a RAID. Linux can take as many
cards as the cards themselves can co-exist. In practice you
are unlikely to need more than four (= 32 drives, if you uuse
8 x SATA cards). I made good experiences with Promise non-RAID cards.
People in the know use software based RAID. Could you give me links
to these kinds of discussions?
You can find some here. Best google this group for "software RAID"
What would be my weak/hotspot points in my kind of design?
RAID can fail. It is not for backuops, but for reduced downtime.
You need at least two independent (different location) copies
of the data. You also need to check you disks reggularly (I run a
full SMART selftest every 14 days).
Any suggestions of the type of boxes/racks I should use?
Depends on the number of disks. I have the 12 disk servber in
a Chieftec big-tower.
Is this more or less feasible?
Yes.
What am I missing here? Any other
suggestions? or intelligent posts in which people have discussed these
issues before? I found two in which some people have said a few right
and some other questionable things:
~
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage: "2 TB storage solution"
comp.arch.storage: "Homebuilt server (NAS/SAN) vs the prefab ones?
Peformance"
~
Do you know of any such "do-it-yourself" projects out there?
As I said, I have a fileserver with 12 disks (about 5TB) and
RAID5/6 in software running on Linux witout issues for some
years now.
Arno
.
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