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Date:      Thu, 2 Sep 1999 09:01:11 -0400
From:      Tony Holmes <tony@crosswinds.net>
To:        scsi@freebsd.org
Subject:   Binding host channels
Message-ID:  <19990902090111.A17707@crosswinds.net>

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I am currently in the process of upgrading a set of servers here and,
after a lot of reading and thought, have decided upon a CMD SCSI
controller system.  I require huge volumes of disk with moderately
decent throughput, so a CMD 5500 controller with 4 host and 5 SCSI
disk channels was selected.

The four host channels are connected to the host via 2 Adaptec 3950
(dual U2W) controllers, each on it's own PCI bus.

So I have:

           4 * U2W            5 * U2W 
        |-----------| CMD   |----------|
FreeBSD |-----------| 5500  |----------|  Lot's O Disk
Server  |-----------|       |----------|
        |-----------|       |----------|
	                    |----------|

My question is this:  Is it possible to "bind" the four host channels
together to make the system appear to have one, very fast host channel
connected to one very large disk (ala the CMD)?  Or do I have to result
to partitioning the disks into 4 logical units on the controller?

The application (massive web space, with no limits per account) pushes for
a single volume that can grow over time.

It has been indicated to me that future version of the CMD controller will
support volume expansion at the controller, thus I wish to take advantage
of this (reduces my admin headaches massively).

The other solution I do have is to utilize Vinum, but growing the partitions
is a big more hairy.

I am quite familiar with FreeBSD and it's resources, but this question has
bent my brain in a new direction.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and answers.

-- 
Tony Holmes

Senior Systems Architect
Crosswinds Internet Communications Inc.


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