From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Aug 22 04:52:58 2007 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 AB38B16A419 for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:52:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rakhesh@rakhesh.com) Received: from nf-out-0910.google.com (nf-out-0910.google.com [64.233.182.190]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 35D3713C442 for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:52:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rakhesh@rakhesh.com) Received: by nf-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id b2so47890nfb for ; Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:52:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.78.177.3 with SMTP id z3mr159984hue.1187758376211; Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:52:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.home.rakhesh.com ( [82.178.132.156]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 28sm77858hua.2007.08.21.21.52.52 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:52:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from obelix.home.rakhesh.com (obelix.home.rakhesh.com [192.168.17.13]) by smtp.home.rakhesh.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 99A8150843 for ; Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:51:09 +0400 (GST) Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:51:09 +0400 (GST) X-X-Sender: rakhesh@obelix.home.rakhesh.com To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <44abslgfa0.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> Message-ID: <20070822084628.L88943@obelix.home.rakhesh.com> References: <20070820121349.D51751@obelix.home.rakhesh.com> <44abslgfa0.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed From: Rakhesh Sasidharan Subject: Re: GEOM, Vinum difference 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, 22 Aug 2007 04:52:58 -0000 Lowell Gilbert wrote: > Rakhesh Sasidharan writes: > >> I see that if I want to do disk striping/ concating/ mirroring, >> FreeBSD offers the GEOM utilities and the Vinum LVM (which fits into >> the GEOM architecture). Why do we have two different ways of doing the >> same tasks -- any advantages/ disadvantages to either approach? >> >> I did check the archives before posting this question. Got a couple of >> hits, but they seem to be old info. Hence this question. >> >> The GEOM utilities seem to be newer, fancier, and probably the >> future. Vinum seems to be how things used to happen earlier. After >> GEOM was introduced, if Vinum had been discarded, I would have >> understood. But it wasn't. Instead, it was rewritten for GEOM and is >> probably still actively maintained. So I wonder why we have two ways >> of doing the same tasks ... >> >> What I understand from the archives is that Vinum was _probably_ >> rewritten for GEOM coz the GEOM utilities were still new and not as >> time tested as Vinum. Is that the case? So will Vinum continue to be >> around for a while or it be discarded? > > geom(4) does not provide RAID. It provides framework services that > are used by gvinum(8), (and by many other disk-related capabilities). Missed that one! :) There's no geom utility for RAID5, so that's definitely a difference. Thanks! Another (related) question: both gvinum and the geom utilities like gmirror and gstripe etc provide for RAID0, RAID1, and RAID3. Any advantages/ disadvantages of using one instead of the other? Thanks, - Rakhesh http://rakhesh.com/