[CentOS] CentOS + GFS + EtherDrive

Thu Sep 15 14:08:13 UTC 2005
Bowie Bailey <Bowie_Bailey at BUC.com>

From: John Newbigin [mailto:jnewbigin at ict.swin.edu.au]
> 
> Bowie Bailey wrote:
> 
> > I am considering building a pair of storage servers that will be
> > using CentOS and GFS to share the storage from a Coraid
> > (SATA+Raid) EtherDrive shelf.  Has anyone else tried such a setup?
> > 
> > Is GFS stable enough to use in a production environment?
> > 
> > There is a build of GFS 6.1 at http://rpm.karan.org/el4/csgfs/.  Has
anyone
> > used this?  Is it stable?
> 
> > Will I run into any problems if I use CentOS 3.5 with it's GFS package
to
> > access a shared 5TB filesystem?
> > 
> > I've been googling on this stuff off and on for a month now.  I've found
a
> > bunch of conflicting and confusing information, but no clear answers.
I've
> > been kind of hoping that the new GFS 6.1 packages would be released
while I
> > was waiting...  :)
> 
> If you are using CentOS 3.5 then you want the el3 version of 
> GFS from here:
> http://mirror.centos.org/centos-3/3/csgfs/

Right.  The version I referenced would be for CentOS 4.1.

> This is only GFS 6.0 but it works well.  It looks like there are
> lots of differences in 6.1 so I don't think it will work out of the
> box on CentOS-3.
> 
> I use GFS with GNBD and it works OK.  Some of the nodes are 2 hops
> away over the ethernet and they can sometimes be a bit slow.  They
> also lock up if the network goes down (no hardware fencing).

What is GNBD?

> The servers are in the same rack and work well together.
> 
> I don't know the maximum filesystem size, or if your hardware is 
> supported but read the docs and it won't cost you anything to try it.

Actually, I'm trying to determine workability before I spend money on
the storage hardware, so it will cost me quite a bit to try it.

Does anyone know the maximum filesystem size for CentOS 3.5 and
GFS 6.0?

Bowie