On Mon, 8 Nov 2010 at 9:36pm, Nicolas Ross wrote
Thanks for the suggestions (others also), but I don't beleivee it'll do. We need to be able to access the file system directly via FC so we can lock files across systems. Pretty much like xSan, but not on apple. xSan is really StorNext from Qlogic, but half the price per node. So, we are searching for an alternative to xSan, on linux.
For those who don't know xSan, you can access a fibre-channel volume directly, and simultanously among many clients computer or servers. Access, locking and other tasks are handled by a metadata controler who is reponsible for keeping things together. No controler, no volume, hence a failover controler is needed.
Have you looked at Red Hat's GFS? That seems to fit at least a portion of your needs (I don't use it, so I don't know all that it does).