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Date:      Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:14:47 +0100
From:      Fleuriot Damien <ml@my.gd>
To:        "bsd@todoo.biz" <bsd@todoo.biz>
Cc:        Liste FreeBSD <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: ZFS + iSCSI architecture
Message-ID:  <A1618B03-9CA6-46F9-89CA-7DB38B5D6ECA@my.gd>
In-Reply-To: <93B2D1C4-8887-45F9-9939-A099AC5E3DA0@todoo.biz>
References:  <93B2D1C4-8887-45F9-9939-A099AC5E3DA0@todoo.biz>

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On Feb 19, 2013, at 11:20 PM, "bsd@todoo.biz" <bsd@todoo.biz> wrote:

> Hello,
>=20
>=20
> I am about to start deploying a large system (about 18 To which can =
grow up to 36 To) based on a big Intel platform with lot's of fancy =
features to have turbo boosted platform (ZIL on SSD + system on dongle =
if I go for FreeNAS). Since I want to move on quite fast I might decide =
to use FreeNAS in it's latest version.=20
>=20
>=20
> The idea behind all that was to grant 5 or six critical servers access =
to the NAS so that they can take advantage of :=20
>=20
> 1. space available on the NAS
>=20
> 2. ability of the NAS to use ZFS and of clients to support this file =
system (including snapshots)=20
>=20
> 3. Access the server using iSCSI (at least this is what I initially =
planned).=20
>=20
> 4. Mount part of their filesystem using data stored on the SAN (like =
/usr/local/ or other parts of the system).=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
> The server accessing the data will be of two types :=20
>=20
> 1. 2 x Ubuntu server 10.04 LTS=20
>=20
> 2. 4 x FreeBSD (mainly 8 and 9) with jail configured=20
>=20
>=20
> I have started reading about iSCSI and potential problems with =
FreeBSD.=20
>=20

What problems do you mean ?



> So my main questions would be :=20
>=20
>=20
> =95 Should I go for iSCSI ?=20
>=20

Well in all use cases, iscsi should perform faster than NFS.



> =95 Should I rather choose / prefer NFS ?=20
>=20
> =95 Should I export a Volume as UFS rather than ZFS (is ZFS supported =
as a target) ?
>=20

I'm not sure what you mean here, when you export a zvol over ISCSI:
- your SAN is the target and presents a block device (the zvol)
- your client is the initiator
- your client attaches to the ISCSI drive and formats it using =
filesystem XYZ, be it ext3, ufs or ntfs




>=20
> The main idea is stability, redundancy of data and ease of maintenance =
(in a headless FreeBSD / Linux world) before anything else !=20
>=20

ISCSI is a bit harder to setup IMO, however I think it''s more reliable =
than NFS, what with its auto retries if it loses the network link to a =
device.



>=20
>=20
> That's the big pictures, if you have any pointers, advise, they are =
all welcome.=20
>=20
>=20
> It is quite late where I leave, so I will reply to posts in 8 to 10 =
hours, but I hope to have enough answer(s) to start an interesting =
thread (as I think this question is very interesting and not so clearly =
explained (at least in my mind))=85=20
>=20

This is idd a very interesting topic and I hope to see more :)



>=20
> Thx very much for your infos and feedback.=20





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