From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 7 18:57:48 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 4469716A4E5 for ; Thu, 7 Sep 2006 18:57:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from smtpout.mac.com (smtpout.mac.com [17.250.248.176]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB8D943D49 for ; Thu, 7 Sep 2006 18:57:46 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from mac.com (smtpin03-en2 [10.13.10.148]) by smtpout.mac.com (Xserve/8.12.11/smtpout06/MantshX 4.0) with ESMTP id k87Ivktu018613; Thu, 7 Sep 2006 11:57:46 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [17.214.13.96] (a17-214-13-96.apple.com [17.214.13.96]) (authenticated bits=0) by mac.com (Xserve/smtpin03/MantshX 4.0) with ESMTP id k87IvfLP015245; Thu, 7 Sep 2006 11:57:45 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: References: <56C924ED-9AF8-4575-8A2F-9BD523AF117F@shockergroup.com> <4A750B77-97BD-4433-BEC1-AA0B5377CCE6@mac.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <0AB0F504-19DB-40D9-9525-8FB4BFABB788@mac.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Chuck Swiger Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 11:57:40 -0700 To: Tom Ierna X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAQAAA+k= X-Language-Identified: TRUE Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: rpc.lockd stalls 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, 07 Sep 2006 18:57:48 -0000 On Sep 7, 2006, at 11:16 AM, Tom Ierna wrote: > On Sep 7, 2006, at 1:44 PM, Chuck Swiger wrote: >> Trying to run a database server or mail server without a disk >> strikes me as a very bad idea. > > This is unfortunate - the "client" machines I have chosen have no > front-panel disk sleds. Hardware administration will be a bear if > they each have to have their own disks. Software-wise, I was hoping > to have them all share a common Kernel and userland too, so I only > have to update software in one place. I can see your reasoning, however, it's not especially difficult to keep many FreeBSD systems updated against a single machine configured to build out new versions of the kernel, userland, and installed ports when needed. [1] The thing is, software like mail servers and the database are usually I/O bound, not CPU-bound; when you get under enough load to matter, usually what you need to do is add more disk spindles and spread DB tables or logfiles or mailspool/queuedir locations amongst the extra disks. >> I am surprised that rpc.lockd is holding up well enough to only go >> down about once a month; simply running the locking tests which >> come with sendmail used to be enough to cause rpc.lockd to crash... > > I will be using qmail, when I get to that stage. qmail is supposed > to be rather safe, even over NFS. Yes, agreed-- qmail + maildir rather than mbox format is probably your best bet for doing operations over NFS. >> Best of luck, >> -- >> -Chuck > > Thanks, it sounds like you think I need it :) Well, yes. But I wouldn't be unhappy if you found something that works for your needs, even if it isn't what I would recommend myself. At least some of the time, I even learn things from people who configure things "strangely" from my perspective... > I'm open to suggestions on a better method of accomplishing my goals. [1]: Mount /usr/src & /usr/obj from the buildserver on each machine, do the update process, and then rsync over or mount /usr/ports/ packages, and use portupgrade or whatever to update or install from the precompiled packages. -- -Chuck