Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:11:55 -0500 From: "Rick C. Petty" <rick-freebsd@kiwi-computer.com> To: Eric Anderson <anderson@centtech.com> Cc: freebsd-geom@freebsd.org Subject: Re: geom - help ... Message-ID: <20060921221155.GB15490@megan.kiwi-computer.com> In-Reply-To: <4512FAAF.9030408@centtech.com> References: <20060921202713.GE3144@rabbit> <4512FAAF.9030408@centtech.com>
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On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 03:48:47PM -0500, Eric Anderson wrote: > > I think a large number of people in datacenters are using hardware RAID > these days, and if they don't need that, then the simplicity of the Really? I thought hardware RAID was slower (due to small block sizes and lack of large caching mechanisms) although easier to admin. Still, I used to hear a lot of people using vinum on 4.11 in data centers. In fact most of the BSD hosting sites I hear about all use 4.11 and jails. > graid3/gmirror/gstripe tools covers it. gvinum isn't as easy to use, I wouldn't say that at all! It's one program to learn, not many. Particularly if you like to divide your data between raid5 and mirror, etc. it's easier to use vinum. > and there's been reports of problems with it, so people who use it in > datacenters will find something that at least *appears* more stable. I haven't tested graid3 or graid5-- how well do they handle a drive which gets dropped? Also, the last I checked (6.0-R, 5.5-R, and 6.1-R) none of the geom layers seemed to allow live changes to the containers (i.e. when the filesystem is mounted). Has this been fixed? Certainly, I've added and removed live volumes under gvinum just fine. > I've found gmirror and gstripe to be fantastically stable. So stable, I > never needed gvinum - but then I use hardware RAID for anything other > than striping and mirroring. Don't get me wrong-- I love gmirror and use it on almost all my root/swap volumes. My preliminary testing showed gvinum to be significantly faster than gmirror for certain activities. Not everyone needs g/vinum, but I've found it a lot easier to configure and use than the alternatives. Plus you get labelling for free. > There is at least one person currently working on gvinum to make it a > very nice offering. Search this list and you'll find him recently > posting about it. Yes, I'm well aware of Ulf's progress and Greg Lehey's continued dedication to the project. I'm also watching all the CVS commits when I can. What I was saying in my previous message is that I have the feeling that aside from the select few who are working on gvinum and the many not-so-outspoken people who rely on g/vinum on their production servers, no one else seems to care whether gvinum succeeds or disappears. I'm saying that I care and I appreciate the efforts of these busy developers! -- Rick C. Petty
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