Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:41:25 -0400 From: stan <stanb@panix.com> To: Alex Zbyslaw <xfb52@dial.pipex.com> Cc: John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Best way to create a large data space Message-ID: <20060714174125.GC23323@teddy.fas.com> In-Reply-To: <44B7C2F5.2080508@dial.pipex.com> References: <20060713123434.GB30789@teddy.fas.com> <20060714002401.GC25387@teddy.fas.com> <200607141037.15183.lists@jnielsen.net> <200607141111.48098.lists@jnielsen.net> <44B7C2F5.2080508@dial.pipex.com>
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On Fri, Jul 14, 2006 at 05:14:45PM +0100, Alex Zbyslaw wrote: > John Nielsen wrote: > > >On Friday 14 July 2006 10:37, John Nielsen wrote: > > > > > >>On Thursday 13 July 2006 20:24, stan wrote: > >> > >> > >>>On Thu, Jul 13, 2006 at 04:20:56PM -0400, John Nielsen wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>>>On Thursday 13 July 2006 08:34, stan wrote: > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>>i have a Sun Ultra 40 with 4 500F SATA drives. I plan on using this > >>>>>machine primarily for a large data storage requirement. > >>>>> > >>>>>What I want is one large /data partition. Given all the choices for > >>>>>doing this in FreeBSD (software) what's the "best" choice here? The > >>>>>partio will be shared via SAMBA if that affects the thhinking here. > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>"Best" really depends on what your needs and goals are. Here's a quick > >>>>overview of what the choices ARE, based mostly on memory. Corrections > >>>>and additions welcome. I'll try to make some notes about pros and cons > >>>>as well. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>Thanks for the nice summary. > >>> > >>>The data will be backed up nightly, so I'll probably use gstirpe to get > >>>the maximum capicty. RAID5 would not work very well with 3 x 500G > >>>(asuuming that I can't use the 500G that I put the system on). > >>> > >>> > >>If that's really what you want to do then here are a couple more tips. You > >>can't boot from a gstripe volume, and when (not if) one of your drives > >>goes > >>bad you'll be happier if you only lose your data and not your entire OS. > >>So > >>plan to partition the drives and use gmirror for the base OS (since you > >>can > >>boot from a gmirror volume). Make a relatively small partition (10GB?) at > >>the beginning of each drive. Make a gmirror volume using two or three of > >>them and install the OS to that volume. Use the remaining one or two small > >>partitions for swap or utility partitions. Then make your giant gstripe > >>volume out of the large partitions on all four drives. > >> > >> > > > >Or better yet, make a gvinum RAID5 volume with the four large partitions. > > > >I think the only tool in my original list that requires you to use the > >entire disk is ataraid(4). > > > > > Just my two pence to a lot of detailed and good-looking suggestions. > > *If* the machine will take two more disks I might get a couple of small > SATAs which I would use for the OS (mirroring however you want), leaving > the entirety of the all the big disks for your data storage. For me, > that would give conceptual simplicity (big disk = data, small disk = OS) > and little messing around with slices on the data disks. > > If you can boot USB, then perhaps a USB stick or somesuch for the OS? > (With duplicates in a fire safe!). Less resilience but again frees up > all the disks for data. Might depend on what else you want the machine > to do. Reader emptor - I've never done this, just read about it! > It's maxed out on drive locations, but the idea of a USB bot is interesting... -- U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote - Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror - New York Times 9/3/1967
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