[CentOS] 8-15 TB storage: any recommendations?

nate centos at linuxpowered.net
Sat Jan 9 15:14:47 UTC 2010


JohnS wrote:

> Interesting link for info  there.  I found [1] and at the bottom of the
> page there is like tidbits of info in PDFs of the different models.  Any
> idea where I could get more info than that, like data sheets and case
> studies.

Not online at least, note the "Confidential" stuff at the bottom of
every page I believe that data isn't supposed to be online, I have copies
myself but don't post them directly.

They are more than happy to give this information to you directly
though, not sure why they sort of try to protect it from public view,
but it's a common practice, I can't recall ever seeing a data sheet on
any storage array that showed it's performance numbers, unlike network
gear which often is filled with performance related information.

If your referring to the E and S series arrays they are roughly half
the performance of the F and T series. I don't believe E and S are
being sold anymore as new systems, when the T came out for example it
was only about 10-15% more than the S, and you get a ton more in
performance, addressable capacity, and features than the S(or E),
making it fairly pointless to go with an S or an E. I also suggest against
the F200 as well, their systems are at their best when you have more
than two controllers, any system can run on only two, so the extra
online scalability comes at a small premium and gives good peace of
mind, even if you never add the extra controllers.

> My main problem is bandwidth and workload.  Another problem is I am
> being told there is such a thing as Triple Disk Mirroring.  Then I am
> being told that there is not and all it is only Raid 1 with just
> Replication to another Volume Set, sorta like a LVM Snapshot so to
> speak.  Last thing is I am told GE is just rebranded Brocade.  Thanks
> for the info & link.

There absolutely is triple mirroring, and probably quadruple as well,
but most systems don't support it. Synchronous(and/or/both asynchronous)
replication is of course available as well. Triple mirroring really
is a waste of resources when your performing RAID at a sub-disk
level like they(and some others IBM XIV, Compellent, Xiotech) do. True
data availability would come from synchronous replication(up to 130
miles away I think is the limit, latency is the reason, ~1.3ms is max)
to another system.

I'm not sure what "GE"(makes me think of General Electric) is but there
are quite a few re branded Brocade switches out there, and probably
Qlogic as well.

Their latest code release 2.3.1 just went GA yesterday, been shipping
on new boxes for a few weeks, largest software update in the company's
10 year history, some pretty impressive new things, some of which I
can't talk about just yet but they're more than happy to tell you in
person.

I've been waiting for over a year for it myself so am pretty
excited, upgrading next weekend.

Getting kind of OT though if you want more info email me off-list,
always happy to talk about this kind of stuff I love fancy technology.


nate





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