[CentOS] iSCSI Question

Sun Nov 18 05:06:08 UTC 2012
Digimer <lists at alteeve.ca>

On 11/17/2012 09:58 PM, Steven Crothers wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 17, 2012 at 6:23 PM, Digimer <lists at alteeve.ca
> <mailto:lists at alteeve.ca>> wrote:
> 
>     You could take two nodes, setup DRBD to replicate the data
>     (synchronously), manage a floating/virtual IP in pacemaker or rgmanager
>     and export the DRBD storage as an iSCSI LUN using tgtd. Then you can
>     migrate to the backup node, take down the primary node for maintenance
>     and restore with minimal/no downtime. Run this over mode=1 bonding with
>     each leg on two different switches and you get network HA as well.
> 
> 
> There is nothing active/active about DRBD though, it also doesn't solve
> the problem of trying to utilize two heads.
> 
> It's just failover. Nothing more.
> 
> I'm looking for an active/active failover scenario, to utilize the
> multiple physical paths for additional throughput and bandwidth. Yes, I
> know I can add more nics. More nics doesn't provide failover of the
> physical node.

First, you can run DRBD in dual-primary (aka, Active/Active) just fine.
It will faithfully replicate in real time and in both directions. Of
course, then you need something to synchronize the data at the logical
level (DRBD is just a block device), and that is where GFS2 or OCFS2
comes in, though the performance hit will go counter to your goals.

You could do multi-path to both nodes, technically, but it's not wise
because the cache on the storage can cause problems[1].

Also, you will note that I suggested mode=1, which is Active/Passive
bonding, which provides no aggregated bandwidth. This was on purpose;
I've tested all modes and *only* mode=1 failed and recovered without
interruption reliably.

As for failover, if you run DRBD in dual-primary, but keep access
through one node at a time only, the only thing that is needed to
migrate after the failure of the node that had the IP is to fence the
node, take over the IP and start tgtd. This can happen quickly and, in
my tests, iSCSI on the clients recovered fine. In my case, I had the
LUNs acting as PVs in a clustered LVM with each LV backing a VM. None of
the VMs failed or needed to be rebooted.

So for what I can gather of your needs, you can get everything you want
from open-source. The only caveat is that if you need more speed, you
need to beef up your network, not aggregate (for reasons not related to
HA), If this is not good enough, then there are plenty of commercial
products ready to lighten your wallet by good measure.

Digimer

1.
http://fghaas.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/dual-primary-drbd-iscsi-and-multipath-dont-do-that/

-- 
Digimer
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