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Date:      Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:28:27 -0500
From:      "Chris Haulmark" <chris@sigd.net>
To:        "Eric Anderson" <anderson@freebsd.org>
Cc:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Subject:   RE: UFS2 with SAN
Message-ID:  <6FC9F9894A9F8C49A722CF9F2132FC2204C9DAB7@ms05.mailstreet2003.net>
In-Reply-To: <45D1F30A.6080403@freebsd.org>
References:  <45CD6FF5.8070007@freebsd.org> <20070213075627.63126.qmail@web34502.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <6FC9F9894A9F8C49A722CF9F2132FC2204C9DAB4@ms05.mailstreet2003.net> <a969fbd10702130839j727d055bu10c3ec80e38d2a3d@mail.gmail.com> <6FC9F9894A9F8C49A722CF9F2132FC2204C9DAB5@ms05.mailstreet2003.net> <6FC9F9894A9F8C49A722CF9F2132FC2204C9DAB6@ms05.mailstreet2003.net> <45D1F30A.6080403@freebsd.org>

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Anderson [mailto:anderson@freebsd.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:19 AM
> To: Chris Haulmark
> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: UFS2 with SAN
>=20
> On 02/13/07 11:00, Chris Haulmark wrote:
> >> From: Jeff Mohler [mailto:speedtoys.racing@gmail.com]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:40 AM
> >> To: Chris Haulmark
> >> Cc: Nicole Harrington; Eric Anderson; freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
> >> Subject: Re: UFS2 with SAN
> >>
> >> Its pretty much that simple.
> >>
> >> You cannot share SAN data..well..you -can- make a LUN appear as a
> >> shared NFS or CIFS share on a Netapp, but I havent tried it in a
> >> while..but you -can-.
> >
> > I set up a Linux cluster with GFS on a single SAN file system.  It
> > included 8 nodes.
>=20
>=20
> Yep, and there's a handful of other linux supported cluster file
> systems
> out there, some good, some not so good.
>=20
>=20
> >> But in the normal world..you cannot...you would have to make it
> >> available via NFS to other client.=C3' =C3'  Thats the key =
difference
> between
> >> SAN and NAS.
> >
> > No.  SAN and NAS is different based on their access.  SAN was
> dependent
> > on either SCSI or Fibre until iSCSI (IPSAN) was introduced.  NAS =
will
> > always require an IP address.  If you were using Fibre and wanted to
> > use NAS, you would have to use iFCP or FCIP protocols.  I do not =
need
> to
> > explain the limitation of using SCSI with NAS.
> >
> > If your responses on this SAN thread would not be productive, please
> > stay out.  I am not interested to hear lectures about what is
> impossible.
> >
> > I asked about if anyone has tried to use UFS2 with only one node to
> > have write/read only while the rest would be read only.
>=20
>=20
> Right, and the answer comes down to - UFS is not cluster aware, and so
> it doesn't know to talk to other nodes to tell them to reload data =
from
> disk, nor does it know if two nodes are writing to the same file at =
the
> same time (think: appending to a log file from many nodes), locking,
> etc.
>=20

I figured that if UFS was my only solution, I would write up a script
that would handle the talking to the other nodes to umount/mount the
file system on demand.

> Sharing the storage works (I have lots of FreeBSD boxen using the same
> fiber backend, with disks visible to all the nodes).  You can mount =
the
> file system RO on many systems just fine too.  *BUT* as soon as you
> mount an fs rw on another box, it's going to start making changes to
> the
> file system, and those changes will not be see on the other nodes.  I
> have indeed tried it.
>=20
> You might look at tdfs (fuse module from Ivan Voras I believe).  It's
> probably horribly beta (not knocking it Ivan - I'm sure it's an =
amazing
> start), so lots of testing would need to be done.  It's also most
> likely
> not high performance.

Thanks for the tip!

>=20
> Do you need one node to be doing *lots* of writes to the file system,
> or
> just nightly updates, etc?

Just updates from the staging production.  I doubt it would happen
as often as the nightly updates.  The client mentioned having a staging
environment so I am sure that the site would be tested before doing a
final update.  It feels more likely to be weekly updates.

Oliver, thanks too.

Chris

>=20
>=20
> Eric
>=20
>=20
> >> On 2/13/07, Chris Haulmark <chris@sigd.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Nicole Harrington [mailto:drumslayer2@yahoo.com]
> >>> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1:56 AM
> >>> To: Eric Anderson; Chris Haulmark
> >>> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
> >>> Subject: Re: UFS2 with SAN
> >>>
> >>> --- Eric Anderson <anderson@freebsd.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 02/10/07 00:54, Chris Haulmark wrote:
> >>>>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>>>> From: Eric Anderson [mailto:anderson@freebsd.org ]
> >>>>>> Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:48 AM
> >>>>>> To: Chris Haulmark
> >>>>>> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
> >>>>>> Subject: Re: UFS2 with SAN
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 02/09/07 19:30, Chris Haulmark wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hello,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I am looking into setting up a SAN with several
> >>>> web servers that
> >>>>>>> will be clustered.=C3' =C3' It would be a FC network
> >>>> using Qlogic cards
> >>>>>>> in each of those FreeBSD web servers.=C3' =C3' It would
> >>>> be about 5+
> >>>>>>> of those web servers.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I want to have the capability to share the same
> >>>> web data across
> >>>>>>> those web servers.=C3' =C3' I have scorched the entire
> >>>> mailing list and
> >>>>>>> found that there were some work on GFS porting
> >>>> over to FreeBSD.
> >>>>>>> It seems like that it is just all talk and if I
> >>>> am wrong, could
> >>>>>>> you have my head turned over to where I can find
> >>>> out how to enable
> >>>>>>> GFS on those FreeBSD systems.
> >>>>>> GFS on FreeBSD is indeed dead.=C3' =C3' Not enough people
> >>>> stepped up to help
> >>>>>> port it.
> >>>>> I really feared to hear that!
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>> If GFS is out of question, which file system am
> >>>> I recommendeded
> >>>>>>> to attempt to use for this SAN setup?
> >>>>>> NFS.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> My first thought to use UFS2 and attempt is to
> >>>> allow only one web
> >>>>>>> server to have a write/read access while the
> >>>> reminder would be
> >>>>>>> read only access. That should prevent from
> >>>> lockings that is similar
> >>>>>>> on NFS/NAS.
> >>>>>> This will result it the read/write system seeing
> >>>> the data ok, and the
> >>>>>> rest getting corrupt data without knowing it, and
> >>>> probably crashing.
> >>>>>> UFS2 is not cluster aware.=C3' =C3' You could mount all
> >>>> the hosts read only,
> >>>>>> and
> >>>>>> then update the mount point on one to rw, makes
> >>>> changes, then back to
> >>>>>> ro, then unmount/remount on the other boxes.
> >>>>> That's my original idea if I do not have anything
> >>>> else better to go
> >>>>> with.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> That's all still a kludge to simulate what NFS
> >>>> will do for you.=C3' =C3' Why
> >>>>>> won't NFS work for you?
> >>>>> I have a client who wants to go from NAS to a true
> >>>> SAN solution with
> >>>>> full
> >>>>> fibre channel network.=C3' =C3' I would hate to lose the
> >>>> opportunity for this
> >>>>> client
> >>>>> to continue using FreeBSD as the choice of OS for
> >>>> his web servers.
> >>>>> Currently,
> >>>>> his set up is using NAS with NFS.=C3' =C3' He complains of
> >>>> locking files that
> >>>>> occurs
> >>>>> too often.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I had hoped to find more better solution and make
> >>>> this client much more
> >>>>> happier
> >>>>> with all the FreeBSD support that can be provided.
> >>>>
> >>>> Well, I'm not sure what issues they had, but have
> >>>> had fantastic success
> >>>> with NFS and FreeBSD.=C3' =C3' FreeBSD with the right
> >>>> hardware and tweaks can
> >>>> make some NetApp boxes look weak. *cough* WAFL
> >>>> *cough*
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>> I agree that it would be fantastic to have a
> >>>> clustered file system for
> >>>>>> FreeBSD, and I've done lot's of hunting and
> >>>> nagging vendors to support
> >>>>>> it - but it's just not there.
> >>>>> We should get few bandwagons and get in circle.
> >>>> It could be likely that
> >>>>> I could
> >>>>> provide access for the developers to test and get
> >>>> whatever file system
> >>>>> and other
> >>>>> necessaries needed to be working. :)
> >>>>
> >>>> The problem isn't the environment or hardware, it's
> >>>> developers skilled
> >>>> to do the work.=C3' =C3' They're all either in NDA's, off
> >>>> writing something
> >>>> else, or just too busy to provide any amount of
> >>>> input.
> >>>>
> >>>> Eric
> >>>
> >>> I have a set of servers NFS mounted to a Netapp and
> >>> after hurs of tuning with netapp's help. (after
> >>> getting through the idiots adking what FreeBSd was)
> >>> =C3' =C3' I got very low performance. I was of course then told
> >>> =C3' =C3' by Netapp to switch to Linux for better NFS support.
> >> That is what I would like to avoid telling my client to do
> >> The same thing. "Stay with NFS and tolerate it."
> >>
> >> I had hoped a SAN solution would be possible for
> >> FreeBSD.=C3' =C3' So far, it appears that it is not possible to
> >> share the same file system across several web servers.
> >>
> >> Chris
> >>> =C3' =C3' I would love for any help with tuning this further,
> >>> but I cannot say that FreeBSD with Netapp NFS will be
> >>> great. Of course, I have not been able to test if
> >>> indeed Linux would be any better.
> >>> =C3' =C3' I will say however that I have a large number of
> >>> small files which tends to not do well with NFS.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> =C3' =C3' Nicole
> >>>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> freebsd-fs@freebsd.org mailing list
> >> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-fs
> >> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-fs-
> unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
> >




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