Yes, though slammed hardware RAID a bit. Software RAID has it's place don't get me wrong, it's just knowing when and where.
Now the problem I have with your approach under the OP's requirements is the only way to fit that kinda storage over that long a period is with external enclosures and there isn't many systems that have external 4 lane serial storage connectors builtin, so one needs a card that can perform that and if you are shopping for a card to do that then you might as well get one for a few $100 more that has on board RAID. Also if the OP wanted to switch distro's he will not have to worry about losing the RAID configuration or hosing it in the process.
-Ross
----- Original Message ----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org centos-bounces@centos.org To: CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org Sent: Tue May 06 20:39:52 2008 Subject: Re: [CentOS] I need storage server advice
The point was, acceptable performance can be had without purchasing a hardware controller. And for archival purposes on a tight budget $500 bucks means one controller for 3 more drives.
On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 6:17 PM, John R Pierce pierce@hogranch.com wrote:
Ross S. W. Walker wrote:
Take these benchmarks with a grain of salt.
and, more importantly, for the thread at hand, this guy wants an ARCHIVE server, where performance is quite secondary, reliablity and data retention are more important. If he had the budget, I'd be suggesting looking at something like Copan's MAID system.
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Ross S. W. Walker wrote:
Yes, though slammed hardware RAID a bit. Software RAID has it's place don't get me wrong, it's just knowing when and where.
Now the problem I have with your approach under the OP's requirements is the only way to fit that kinda storage over that long a period is with external enclosures and there isn't many systems that have external 4 lane serial storage connectors builtin, so one needs a card that can perform that and if you are shopping for a card to do that then you might as well get one for a few $100 more that has on board RAID. Also if the OP wanted to switch distro's he will not have to worry about losing the RAID configuration or hosing it in the process.
I've never had any problems with linux losing track of md based raid mirrors or LVM configurations, and they import quite nicely into new systems.
I'd consider using a SAS card on the host (LSI Logic makes some nice ones), and each SAS port can drive 16 SATA drives on SATA/SAS backplane multiplexors. http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/lsi...
I'd start with a 3U 16 bay /server/ using a SAS/SATA backplane, too, then when that fills up, add 16 drive expansion bays as needed... something like http://www.aicipc.com/ProductImage.aspx?ref=RSC-3ED2-2 (but, by all means, pick your favorite chassis or system vendor)
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John R Pierce -
Ross S. W. Walker