Re: Shared Storage?

Nik Simpson wrote:
> WipeOut wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am going to be setting up a couple of linux servers in the near
> > future and these servers will have ever increasing storage needs..
> >
> > One server will be a web/file server and the other will be a mail
> > server..
> >
> > I don't want to keep moving the data to bigger drives, I want to have
> > the servers use a shared storage facility that runs RAID and that
> > capacity can be increased as needed.. Preferably using ATA or SATA
> > drives to keep the cost down..
> >
> > I have looked briefly at things like SAN's but these are far to
> > expensive for our limited budget..
>
> What is your budget? You maybe ruling at FC attached storage (no need for a
> switch) too quickly. A dual ported FC array with software on each host to
> create a shared filesystem might be in your budget, but it's hard to tell.

I ruled out FC for a few reasons, I only saw SCSI drives and alone they 
are to expensive per GB compared to PATA/SATA, The FC HBA's are very 
steep as well probably costing as much as the whole server, and then 
there is the switch and the array..

> Also, it would be easier to decide if your worries about NAS performance
> where justified if we had some idea of what your performance requirements
> are.

I know this is a problem area becasue I have not got anything to base my 
requirements on becasue its a new system..

> That said, if you don't think NAS is fast enough, and SAN is outside your
> budget, then you've pretty much shot your options ;-)
Yea, I know.. thats the problem.. :)

I think NAS on a dedicated GigE netowrk and if possible a dedicated link 
between each server and the NAS is probably the way to go..

For the NAS its self I will probably just use a Linux server and an 8 or 
12 channel SATA RAID controller with 3 or 4 drives to start and then add 
on as needed using LVM for the storage management.. I don't think I will 
be able to do it much cheaper than that.. :)

Thanks for you comments..