From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 14 17:41:38 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B535116A4DE for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:41:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from stanb@panix.com) Received: from mail2.panix.com (mail2.panix.com [166.84.1.73]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F28E443D5A for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:41:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from stanb@panix.com) Received: from mailspool2.panix.com (mailspool2.panix.com [166.84.1.79]) by mail2.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id EC62A9D88F; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:41:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: from teddy.fas.com (c-68-58-232-106.hsd1.sc.comcast.net [68.58.232.106]) by mailspool2.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A5DBD544361; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:41:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: from stan by teddy.fas.com with local (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 1G1RfJ-00068R-00; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:41:25 -0400 Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:41:25 -0400 From: stan To: Alex Zbyslaw Message-ID: <20060714174125.GC23323@teddy.fas.com> Mail-Followup-To: Alex Zbyslaw , John Nielsen , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20060713123434.GB30789@teddy.fas.com> <20060714002401.GC25387@teddy.fas.com> <200607141037.15183.lists@jnielsen.net> <200607141111.48098.lists@jnielsen.net> <44B7C2F5.2080508@dial.pipex.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <44B7C2F5.2080508@dial.pipex.com> X-Editor: gVim X-Operating-System: Debian GNU/Linux X-Kernel-Version: 2.4.23 X-Uptime: 13:34:51 up 88 days, 14:43, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.00 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i Sender: Stan Brown Cc: John Nielsen , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Best way to create a large data space X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 17:41:38 -0000 On Fri, Jul 14, 2006 at 05:14:45PM +0100, Alex Zbyslaw wrote: > John Nielsen wrote: > > >On Friday 14 July 2006 10:37, John Nielsen wrote: > > > > > >>On Thursday 13 July 2006 20:24, stan wrote: > >> > >> > >>>On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 04:20:56PM -0400, John Nielsen wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>>>On Thursday 13 July 2006 08:34, stan wrote: > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>>i have a Sun Ultra 40 with 4 500F SATA drives. I plan on using this > >>>>>machine primarily for a large data storage requirement. > >>>>> > >>>>>What I want is one large /data partition. Given all the choices for > >>>>>doing this in FreeBSD (software) what's the "best" choice here? The > >>>>>partio will be shared via SAMBA if that affects the thhinking here. > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>"Best" really depends on what your needs and goals are. Here's a quick > >>>>overview of what the choices ARE, based mostly on memory. Corrections > >>>>and additions welcome. I'll try to make some notes about pros and cons > >>>>as well. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>Thanks for the nice summary. > >>> > >>>The data will be backed up nightly, so I'll probably use gstirpe to get > >>>the maximum capicty. RAID5 would not work very well with 3 x 500G > >>>(asuuming that I can't use the 500G that I put the system on). > >>> > >>> > >>If that's really what you want to do then here are a couple more tips. You > >>can't boot from a gstripe volume, and when (not if) one of your drives > >>goes > >>bad you'll be happier if you only lose your data and not your entire OS. > >>So > >>plan to partition the drives and use gmirror for the base OS (since you > >>can > >>boot from a gmirror volume). Make a relatively small partition (10GB?) at > >>the beginning of each drive. Make a gmirror volume using two or three of > >>them and install the OS to that volume. Use the remaining one or two small > >>partitions for swap or utility partitions. Then make your giant gstripe > >>volume out of the large partitions on all four drives. > >> > >> > > > >Or better yet, make a gvinum RAID5 volume with the four large partitions. > > > >I think the only tool in my original list that requires you to use the > >entire disk is ataraid(4). > > > > > Just my two pence to a lot of detailed and good-looking suggestions. > > *If* the machine will take two more disks I might get a couple of small > SATAs which I would use for the OS (mirroring however you want), leaving > the entirety of the all the big disks for your data storage. For me, > that would give conceptual simplicity (big disk = data, small disk = OS) > and little messing around with slices on the data disks. > > If you can boot USB, then perhaps a USB stick or somesuch for the OS? > (With duplicates in a fire safe!). Less resilience but again frees up > all the disks for data. Might depend on what else you want the machine > to do. Reader emptor - I've never done this, just read about it! > It's maxed out on drive locations, but the idea of a USB bot is interesting... -- U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote - Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror - New York Times 9/3/1967