From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 14 20:04:04 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 B228A16A4DF for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 20:04:04 +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 3136843D83 for ; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 20:03:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from stanb@panix.com) Received: from mailspool3.panix.com (mailspool3.panix.com [166.84.1.78]) by mail2.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 752739D9CE; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:03:57 -0400 (EDT) Received: from teddy.fas.com (c-68-58-232-106.hsd1.sc.comcast.net [68.58.232.106]) by mailspool3.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4EEFC6E5925; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:03:57 -0400 (EDT) Received: from stan by teddy.fas.com with local (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 1G1Tt7-0007OI-00; Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:03:49 -0400 Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:03:49 -0400 From: stan To: John Nielsen Message-ID: <20060714200349.GA28300@teddy.fas.com> Mail-Followup-To: John Nielsen , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20060713123434.GB30789@teddy.fas.com> <200607141111.48098.lists@jnielsen.net> <20060714173944.GB23323@teddy.fas.com> <200607141441.03132.lists@jnielsen.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200607141441.03132.lists@jnielsen.net> X-Editor: gVim X-Operating-System: Debian GNU/Linux X-Kernel-Version: 2.4.23 X-Uptime: 15:58:38 up 88 days, 17:07, 1 user, load average: 0.08, 0.02, 0.02 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i Sender: Stan Brown Cc: 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 20:04:04 -0000 On Fri, Jul 14, 2006 at 02:41:02PM -0400, John Nielsen wrote: > On Friday 14 July 2006 13:39, stan wrote: > > On Fri, Jul 14, 2006 at 11:11:47AM -0400, 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. > > > > K, I think I'm convinced. That would give me 1.5TB for my 2TB of physical > > disk. > > Roughly speaking. > > > Got a pointer to docs on how to install the base OS on a RAID5 config? > > I'm not sure you can boot from a RAID5 volume, and it's tricky to boot from a > gvinum volume at all. I would still recommend partitioning and installing the > OS to a gmirror volume, and then set up your gvinum RAID5 after the fact. > > Unfortunately, sysinstall doesn't grok advanced disk setups very well, so > you'll have to get started manually. I would do this: Thanks for all the sugestions, and the detailed guide on getting what we setled on set up!! -- U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote - Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror - New York Times 9/3/1967