From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Jan 8 10:16:25 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from sunny.fishnet.com (sunny.fishnet.com [209.150.200.6]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B2BE37B6C3 for ; Mon, 8 Jan 2001 09:48:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from walleye.corp.fishnet.com (209.150.192.114) by sunny.fishnet.com (5.0.048) id 39FECC320056BA11; Mon, 8 Jan 2001 11:48:45 -0600 Message-ID: From: Matt Schlosser To: 'Francisco Reyes' Cc: "'freebsd-questions@freebsd.org'" Subject: RE: Fire-wire/fiber/SCSI? Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 11:49:16 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG >>This will be transferring large files. Some ranging in the GB range for a >>single file. >How do the files get to the main machine? >will most of the work be writting or reading off this box? The read/write will be done through a sort of modified sftp connection that is in the early stages of development. The read/write load should be fairly evenly balanced, maybe a slight more read than write, and there will be a fair amount of server-side file analysys. >>He (we) are trying to figure out if using a Netapp connected via: >> A) SCSI to single box is better >> B) Firewire connected to a single box or multiple will work >> C) Gigabit Eithernet to multiple boxes or single >I don't see what a Netapp would do for you. lots-o-storage (need multi-terrabyte), fast access. >How about getting an external SCSI160 enclosure with Cheeta's >X15 HDs on a switched Gigabit network. >The only problem with the X15's is that they are only 18G which >can be a problem in terms of how many you may need. They are, >however, the fastest drives on the block at 15,000RPM. We actually tossed that around, but at only 18G we would need a LOT of them (especially with mirroring) and that cost brings us right up to NetApp cost plus with that many, some are guaranteed to fail often. >A good configuration for the drives would be Raid 0+1, but that >is expensive. If mostly apps will be reading of the drive then >Raid 5 may do the trick. >Why don't you write to David Greenman(?), FreeBSD's main >architect. He builds high performance boxes. I think the URL for >his company is http://www.terrasolutions.com >He ought to be able to configure a good setup and may even be >able to configure the kernel for you so it screams. :-) >If redundancy is a high priority you can get an external box >with dual channel. FreeBSD will not be able to have two machines >connected to it at the same time, but at the touch of a button >you can switch to a second machine also attached to the external >box. Yes, redundancy will be a big priority. One of our main concerns is that this system must not go down, and especially must not lose any data, not even a little. I wonder if I can configure a machine to monitor the server and perform the switch automatically.... hmmm.... more projects to consider.... >Good luck. Thanks for the assistance. >francisco >Moderator of the Corporate BSD list >http://www.egroups.com/group/BSD_Corporate To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message