From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 6 20:00:54 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 A3E2716A43A for ; Thu, 6 Apr 2006 20:00:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from duane@greenmeadow.ca) Received: from smtpout.eastlink.ca (smtpout.eastlink.ca [24.222.0.30]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F84C44A63 for ; Thu, 6 Apr 2006 16:36:35 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from duane@greenmeadow.ca) Received: from ip01.eastlink.ca ([24.222.10.5]) by mta01.eastlink.ca (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-4.03 (built Sep 22 2005)) with ESMTP id <0IXB0066Y7GJDSM2@mta01.eastlink.ca> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:36:20 -0300 (ADT) Received: from blk-224-199-230.eastlink.ca (HELO [192.168.0.103]) ([24.224.199.230]) by ip01.eastlink.ca with ESMTP; Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:36:15 -0300 Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:35:11 -0300 From: Duane Whitty In-reply-to: <200604061615.36695.work@ashleymoran.me.uk> To: Ashley Moran Message-id: <4435433F.3010709@greenmeadow.ca> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-BrightmailFiltered: true X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAQAAA+k= References: <200604061152.56031.work@ashleymoran.me.uk> <20060406110359.GA99455@sysadm.stc> <20060406131232.A58398@chylonia.3miasto.net> <200604061615.36695.work@ashleymoran.me.uk> User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (X11/20060309) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Switch from SATA-RAID to gmirror? 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: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:00:55 -0000 Ashley Moran wrote: > On Thursday 06 April 2006 12:13, Wojciech Puchar wrote: > >> i think - just YES. no problem >> > > Wojciech > > You were right to have faith! It went perfectly and the server is now up on > gmirror. Only took 90 mins or so to rebuilt a 200GB disk too. > > I've got to say this gmirror thing is scarily easy to set up. I just hope > when/if one of the disks die it will carry on running! > > Ashley > Hi Ashley, I'm glad things worked well for you. Faith got you this far but how long do you want to depend upon it? A long time ago I was tasked with the administration of some HP-UX boxes running on K-series hardware. I didn't setup the hardware and I didn't do the system install but I was expected, as the systems consultant, to give reasonable assurances that in the case of system failure the recovery procedures would work. As it turns out I had to also write those procedures. After I did so I insisted that a failure be simulated and that it be determined whether or not we could recover our operation starting from scratch with just our backups and system tapes. After all, there is no one easier to fire than a consultant and it's always the consultant's fault :) So my recommendation is that you simulate a disk going bad now before it happens for real. For instance, what happens if you unplug the disk from the controller, or remove its power connection, etc? Just my $0.02 -- Duane Whitty