From owner-freebsd-cluster@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 20 17:22:39 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 55C6E37B401 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2003 17:22:39 -0700 (PDT) Received: from walnut.he.net (walnut.he.net [64.71.137.114]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F3EEF43FA3 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2003 17:22:38 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from kmacy@fsmware.com) Received: from localhost (kmacy@localhost) by walnut.he.net (8.8.6p2003-03-31/8.8.2) with ESMTP id RAA04985 for ; Sun, 20 Apr 2003 17:22:44 -0700 Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 17:22:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Kip Macy X-Sender: kmacy@walnut.he.net To: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: iSCSI and clustering with FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Clustering FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 00:22:39 -0000 I'm currently setting up a small cluster of 8 dual processor machines. I will be running opengfs over iSCSI. For the time being, this translates to meaning that everything but the iSCSI target will be running Linux. I see a number of things that FreeBSD really needs to be on equal footing that I would like to see get going and would like to contribute towards, but realize that I don't have the time to do it myself and still pay my mortgage. I'm wondering if people are interested in getting together, or are simply too busy to do anything but bemoan their absence. 1) Shared storage: iscsi initiator A while back, I signed up to write an iscsi initiator. After having written an iscsi target, I now realize that I don't have the time to write an initiator by myself (at least not unpaid). Time required for development: 3 man months 2) Shared file system: OpenGFS or LUSTRE OpenGFS is a shared disk file system for Linux that was initially written for IRIX but was later ported to Linux. Hence, it has a reasonably clean separation from OS dependencies. Porting it too FreeBSD looks feasible. It would have to remain a module as it is GPL. LUSTRE looks like it scales better but requires more infrastructure. Time required for port: ~6 man months 3) Process management: bproc I'm sure everyone on this list is familiar with it. Time required for port: 3-9 man months - the kernel patch is fairly small, but I'm not certain how many Linux dependencies the system has. 5) Process migration: openMosix This is one colossal 45,000 line patch for Linux. It is obviously GPL and could not be put in a module, so it would have to be done from scratch. Time required for port: 2 man years??? On question that I ask myself, even as someone who strongly prefers FreeBSD to Linux, is "why does it matter if clustering is done on Linux or on FreeBSD?". Linux has a huge momentum advantage in this area. The only thing that FreeBSD obviously adds is that companies could add their own mods without being forced to open-source them. -Kip From owner-freebsd-cluster@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 21 06:22:33 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A74B037B401 for ; Mon, 21 Apr 2003 06:22:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: from iota.root-servers.ch (iota.root-servers.ch [193.41.193.195]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 354EF43F75 for ; Mon, 21 Apr 2003 06:22:32 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from gabriel_ambuehl@buz.ch) Received: (qmail 94860 invoked from network); 21 Apr 2003 13:22:28 -0000 Received: from dclient80-218-106-179.hispeed.ch (HELO gaxp1800.root.li) (80.218.106.179) by 0 with SMTP; 21 Apr 2003 13:22:28 -0000 Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:24:02 +0200 From: Gabriel Ambuehl X-Mailer: The Bat! (v1.62i) Educational Organization: BUZ Internet Services X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Message-ID: <173512061890.20030421152402@buz.ch> To: Kip Macy In-Reply-To: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Subject: Re: iSCSI and clustering with FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: gabriel_ambuehl@buz.ch List-Id: Clustering FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 13:22:34 -0000 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hello Kip, Monday, April 21, 2003, 2:22:44 AM, you wrote: > On question that I ask myself, even as someone who strongly prefers > FreeBSD to Linux, is "why does it matter if clustering is done on > Linux or on FreeBSD?". Linux has a huge momentum advantage in this > area. The only thing that FreeBSD obviously adds is that companies > could add their own mods without being forced to open-source them. This is gonna be somewhat offtopic: Well it would save us from working with the mess that Linux is. I mean every few months, I decide to look at it and every time I ran away from it in disgust. Sure there are quite a few cool things that FreeBSD lacks (IBM supported IBM JDK, OpenMosix) but all in all, whatever distro I touch, I just find it unnatural to work with. Gentoo's portage is cool, sure, but all in all I can do most it does with portupgrade too (although portupgrade is notorious for f***** up dependencies). So if I had to name three things FreeBSD really needs: - - JDK - - working binary upgrades (mostly ports) - - iSCSI iSCSI would be really nice because it would make it very simple to mirror drives over a network in realtime. Theoretically, this can be done with a network block device just as well but since FreeBSD is lacking that one as well, iSCSI would be the way to go. OpenMOSIX obviously would be cool too then again I currently don't really see much use for it in my case. Best regards, Gabriel -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 6.0.2i iQEVAwUBPqPi5sZa2WpymlDxAQGttQf9GUFNOS8ACfjXVWOj/ZaGZiVcw3S1QmNi +OeVO9dOGbtD2J6cpnFHTp2fI2Noh7zJMyNkv+mBbYke9yKj0zHpBilTIDkOwLra 5nCpvY0Vf4u0Lsu4V5YBXHlfGbWK7W1M4fPUUVO+SPmDw96EuhBZfaRR6wMtpEJu gFuSXNDirOGNcKlQ67u7y/14KPNVEKsU9E19TWKvWZRxjkzwC0bIUTGtaDs5SdIs O6lzHs/MSZrZqb3jl1EJVEQLuT4FZQe36ZWZRqkGohl3v196LwHRCeRWRIppqLUj 7qvhHkCtYRyQ7kT8zAJWLXx0ErzrZGDCTKCcMCK0nHQSwVoXhOCYjA== =6fnh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- From owner-freebsd-cluster@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 21 09:26:16 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BDFA37B401 for ; Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:26:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from walnut.he.net (walnut.he.net [64.71.137.114]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D4A0F43FCB for ; Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:26:15 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from kmacy@fsmware.com) Received: from localhost (kmacy@localhost) by walnut.he.net (8.8.6p2003-03-31/8.8.2) with ESMTP id JAA19558; Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:26:08 -0700 Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:26:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Kip Macy X-Sender: kmacy@walnut.he.net To: Gabriel Ambuehl In-Reply-To: <173512061890.20030421152402@buz.ch> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org Subject: Re: iSCSI and clustering with FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-cluster@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Clustering FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 16:26:16 -0000 > whatever distro I touch, I just find it unnatural to work with. I can understand the feeling. But depending on one's needs, it is less work than going and writing the tools. > done with a network block device just as well but since FreeBSD is > lacking that one as well, iSCSI would be the way to go. > > OpenMOSIX obviously would be cool too then again I currently don't > really see much use for it in my case. I'm targeting small scale compute clusters. GFS and MOSIX would be inappropriate for something with 100s of nodes. -Kip