From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 21 21:59:13 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F049106564A for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org) Received: from ciao.gmane.org (main.gmane.org [80.91.229.2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 926438FC12 for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:12 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org) Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1JywKw-0006sq-0k for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:06 +0000 Received: from 240.pool80-103-193.dynamic.orange.es ([80.103.193.240]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:06 +0000 Received: from matiassurdi by 240.pool80-103-193.dynamic.orange.es with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:06 +0000 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Matias Surdi Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 23:58:59 +0200 Lines: 45 Message-ID: References: <226ae0c60805210952i1eaea90avf04039aea2aa807e@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 240.pool80-103-193.dynamic.orange.es User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080505) In-Reply-To: <226ae0c60805210952i1eaea90avf04039aea2aa807e@mail.gmail.com> Sender: news Subject: Re: Large filesystems help/ideas 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: Wed, 21 May 2008 21:59:13 -0000 David Robillard escribió: >> Hi, >> I'm implementing a backup solution at work.We've bought a x86 server >> with two hardware raid 5 with for a total storage capacity of about 7Tb. >> >> For the software we are using for backups, the ideal scenario would be >> to have just one "big disk" so that no space problems would appear. >> >> I've tried to install FreeBSD 7 with no success, as it seems... the >> sysinstall tool doesn't support such big slices. >> >> I've read about the "Large Data Storage on FreeBSD" but I'm still confused. >> >> I've also thought on using slices of 1Tb, and join all them using vinum. >> What do you think about this last option? >> >> Thanks a lot for your help. > > I would suggest to use different partitions for your OS and another > big one for your backup data. In fact, if you can use two smaller > disks in RAID 1 for the OS and leave your two RAID 5 for the backup > data alone, that would be even better. > > This way you can both a) install the OS without any problem and b) > prevent a *very* long fsck in case the machine crashes and your 7TB > partition is broken beyond the background fsck process. Once you have > the OS installed on the smaller partitions, you can then use gpt(8) to > create your 2TB+ filesystems. YMMV. > > We use a scenario quite identical as what you're trying to do. We use > a few ports to do so, like sysutils/rsnapshot and shells/rssh with > rsync and OpenSSH along with an encrypted backup volume and OpenPGP to > encrypt the tapes. For VMWare images, we use sysutils/rdiff-backup. It > works very well for 100+ mixed FreeBSD, RedHat, Ubuntu and AIX hosts. > If you need any help with the backup setup and all, just ask, I'll > send you the howto. > > Have fun, > > DA+ Thanks a lot for your invaluable help guys, now I've a better idea about this.