Primarily questions about disk storage, sometimes questions about application storage or cloud storage. Always questions about storing data.
2
votes
1answer
109 views
How can I determine the specific file referenced by fs_usage, which is listed by block
I was investigating a problem on a Mac OS X 10.6.8 Server, where users were complaining of access slowdowns. Network throughput slowed to a crawl. It felt like the server was overburdened. System ...
5
votes
1answer
291 views
Completely disjoint iSCSI networks vs dedicated switches and VLANs
I'm looking for best practice or pros/cons for deploying an iSCSI storage network.
The two options are:
A completely disjoint iSCSI storage network
Dedicated switches with a separate VLAN for ...
0
votes
1answer
368 views
Can a backup server HBA be zoned into 2 tape drives without confusing applications?
| tape drive 1 | ---- | switch 1 | ---- hba1 | backup server | hba2 ---- | switch 2 | -----| tape drive 2 |
Our backup server has 2 FC HBAs. Each is zoned into a different drive on the back of the ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
Any experience with SATA SAS Interposer Cards?
Driven by the current price difference between SATA and SAS disks on one side and the potentially bad behaviour of SATA disks in bigger storage arrays on the other side, I have found so-called ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Sheepdog versus iSCSI for KVM
What is recommended storage solution as VM count grows? We currently have 5 VM servers (8 core, 32GB) and one storage server. Currently we have ~80 virtual machines running and the storage server's ...
2
votes
2answers
165 views
Local attached storage versus NAS
I currently have 3 old NT File Servers that are about to die, which have no disk level redundancy. We're considering buying drives and attaching them to a newer server that would serve files, but I ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Tuning Linux disk caching behaviour for maximum throughput
I'm running into a maximum throughput issue here and need some advice on which way to tune my knobs. We're running a 10Gbit fileserver for backup distribution. It's a two disk S-ATA2 setup on an LSI ...
0
votes
1answer
161 views
What's the best file system for a 200TB Array on a MacOS 10.7? [closed]
We have a Mac server (10.7) with a 200TB disk array. We're trying to decide between HFS+ and the unsupported ZFS. Which should we use, why, and is there another choice that we haven't considered?
1
vote
3answers
1k views
HP DL585 G1 with VMware ESXi 5 - SATA solution, need more storage
I have the following:
2 x DL585 G1 (8 cores) with built in Smart Array 5i (2 x 74GB SCSI in Raid 0)
I installed VMware ESXi 5 and got it all working :)
However I need more space.
I was thinking ...
-1
votes
2answers
147 views
Cross platform, blob storage system
I have a couple of different servers around the house, and a lot of storage on each of these machines. I also have a couple of dedicated servers, and some VMs on these boxes... Most of the boxes and ...
2
votes
1answer
791 views
VMWare VMs to Data Domain storage via EMC Networker backup: Do I need a storage node?
I've got several VMs (Windows Server 2003-2008 R2, application servers, Exchange, SQL, small file servers) residing on ESXi 4.1 hosts. We recently purchased a Data Domain system allowing us to backup ...
-1
votes
1answer
663 views
How to manage HP Array on MSA1000?
On the server I have two fiber channel in multipath that connected to MSA1000:
0b:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation Zephyr-X LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Adapter (rev 02)
0b:00.1 Fibre Channel: ...
1
vote
3answers
106 views
Backup a large library [closed]
I have a relatively large library of about 50TB that I need to back-up on at least a weekly basis. Currently, the video content is stored across an array of raided 3TB hard drives. I would estimate ...
2
votes
3answers
294 views
What's the relation between “HP Diagnostics” the “Array Config Utility” and “Windows Disk Manager”
I have a failed drive that is reported in HP Diagnostics
https://localhost:2381/hpdiags/frontend2/frontend.php?
It tells me that Logical Drive 5 has a drive that is about to fail. The name of ...
0
votes
0answers
191 views
Best way to architect and attach 5TB of storage using a VM and a SAN?
I've been cautioned not to create huge LUNs on a SAN (ours is effectively 19TB) but I admit I'm not very knowledgeable about storage issues.
As far as application requirements, I need a 5 TB mount ...
1
vote
1answer
249 views
VirtualBox Fedora Host Windows Guest Networking and Folder Aliases
I'm new to running virtual machines and I have a couple questions.
I have a Fedora 14 box with an 8 core Bulldozer processor that is running VirtualBox with Windows. This machine has several ...
0
votes
1answer
305 views
SAN Boot CHAP'd iSCSI Target?
I have a few computers on my network that boot via iSCSI (due to dead HDDs) using chainloaded iPXE over DHCP. I wanted to enable CHAP for my iSCSI target to increase security (and learn). However, ...
8
votes
1answer
560 views
2.5 inch drives versus 3.5 inch drives
I am looking for some publicly available comparisons between 2.5 inch drives and 3.5 inch drives. What I had assumed is that a 2.5 inch 15k drive and a 3.5 inch 15k drive would have identical ...
1
vote
2answers
161 views
LTO(4) Tape Physical Storage
We have moved to an LTO(4) tape backup system. It works great and now we have a stack of physical tapes lying around that need to be stored and ultimately secured. I was curious what options exist ...
4
votes
1answer
626 views
Is Microsoft's “Storage Spaces” just LVM for Windows? [closed]
From initial reading, it looks like Microsoft's forthcoming "Storage Spaces" is an LVM-like tool for Windows.
Is this a correct assessment?
If it's not merely LVM-for-Windows, then what is it, and ...
1
vote
2answers
218 views
Adding nearline SAS disks to a controller with SAS disks
I have a Dell Poweredge 840 server that currently has a pair of hot swappable 146Gb SAS disks attached to a SAS 5IR controller, configured as RAID 1.
I have two spare slots to add two add more ...
1
vote
1answer
168 views
How to connect drive array to redundant motherboards?
How should one connect a small storage array, four 3TB SATA drives for now, to two motherboards or controllers as a failover system? This means avoiding adding another single point of failure such as ...
3
votes
1answer
349 views
Installed 2TB disk in ubuntu server, dmesg reports it as 9444732965540666 MB
I've have an ageing Linux server running on Dell PowerEdge hardware, with a SAS 5IR RAID controller. It has a pair of SAS 146Gb disks in a RAID 1 configuration that has the OS and other software. I ...
12
votes
3answers
7k views
How to move files between two S3 buckets with minimum cost?
I have millions of files in a Amazon S3 bucket and I'd like to move these files to other buckets and folders with minimum cost or no cost if possible. All buckets are in the same zone.
How could I ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
250 users with a data dir on a central server - how would you set it up?
I'd like to get best-practice advice on how to setup a scheme where 250 users or more have OS independent access to their own data-dir / user-dir on a central server in the local network. from the ...
8
votes
2answers
328 views
Are branded backplanes useable without specific controllers?
I can't find a disk enclosure which I like, so I'm going to build a custom one (if nothing else, that'll teach me to be picky...). I've got a few HP SAS backplanes lying about, but I'm wondering if ...
1
vote
2answers
348 views
Can NetApp's WAFL export snapshots to files?
An exact copy of a ZFS file system can be made with snapshots using zfs send/receive.
Can something similar be done with NetApp's WAFL, where you make a snapshot and export it to a file?
0
votes
2answers
244 views
How to backup NetApp storage on Linux? [closed]
Our NetVault license is about to expire within the next year, so what alternatives are there on Linux?
We have 20TB and many millions of files, so time on the backup window is important.
The backup ...
0
votes
2answers
54 views
parted subtracting partition size 16896 from size given
When I create a partition using parted(mkpart) giving unit as Bytes, it is creating "size given - 16896" byte sized partition.
Is there any specific reason to less 16896 bytes from the partition ...
7
votes
6answers
17k views
VMware VMFS5 and LUN sizing - multiple smaller datastores, or 1 big datastore?
With VMFS5 no longer having the 2TB limit for a VMFS volume, I'm considering which scenario would be more beneficial overall:-
Less LUNs of larger size, or
More LUNs of smaller size.
In my case, I ...
0
votes
0answers
284 views
Can a pcie revo drive be used with esxi 4.0
I am running esxi 4.0 on a dell T110 server. The server does not see the pcie revo drive (OCZSSDPX-1RVD0180) as a storage device nor does it see it in the hardware that can be enabled in the VM Pass ...
1
vote
4answers
138 views
Calculating risk vs cost for server storage
This is a request for 2 different types of information:
Is there a formula that can/should be followed to calculate risk vs cost of server storage?
What factors should one take into consideration ...
0
votes
2answers
794 views
Maximum Size Limit for CIFS Share Accessed by Windows Server 2003 (32 bit) Client?
We have a CIFS share being served out by a NETAPP appliance. The CIFS share has grown to over 2 TB in size. A Windows Server 2003 32 bit-client accesses the share.
Lets say, for example, the ...
1
vote
1answer
414 views
MySQL Cluster on SSD
We are planning to implement a four node MySQL Cluster and are considering using SSDs as the storage. We would like to get a high level of performance and very low latency on disk IO from the small ...
5
votes
4answers
4k views
How do I get my HP servers to email me when a drive fails?
Ideally, with as simple of install as possible and without requiring rebooting the servers. Mostly for DL380 G5's if it helps. Thanks.
2
votes
1answer
924 views
vmware esx 4.1 cant see existing SAN storage
I have 3 esx 4.1 hosts connected to HP EVA 4400 StorageWork. All host can see 6 datastore, LUN1 to LUN6, 1TB for each datastore. Recently I add another esx 4.1 host but unfortunately this now host ...
0
votes
1answer
340 views
Converter to use Sata HDD with IBM eserver x236
We have an old x236 machine with 2 70-GB SCSI disks installed on Ultra320 SCSI connector (check out the hardware manual). Now, we are planning to buy a new server in future and x326 would act as a ...
1
vote
1answer
280 views
Backup HFS+ filesystem to linux server
I am the sysadmin for a small company with 3 Xserves running OSX 10.6.8 containing mission critical data that need to be backed up in an automated fashion.
To accomplish this, we are going to deploy ...
2
votes
2answers
115 views
What do you do when your site scales so much that uploaded_media can't fit on one machine? [closed]
What do you do when your site scales so much that your uploaded_media (in Django, where all uploaded media files from users is stored) can't fit on one machine?
My personal case, I'm using Django and ...
2
votes
2answers
104 views
Storing 64000+ files and growing in one folder (ext3)
I'm using a directory as a staging area for my files before shipping them to Amazon S3 buckets. This staging directory has no sub-directory structure /a/b/c or /year/month/day ... it's only files ...
-6
votes
1answer
419 views
Enterprise class storage costs: $10k/TB. Are we paying too much? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why is business-class storage so expensive?
The infrastructure team at my company charges $10,000 per TB for storage costs. They charge this to us (internal) when we ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
ZFS: can per-user encrypted filesystems be deduplicated on block-level?
Let's assume I build a storage system where each user gets his/her own encrypted filesystem on top of a ZFS pool. Would deduplication on pool-level still work when each fs is encrypted?
What ...
1
vote
2answers
354 views
ZFS: Best-practices doc state: “On systems with 1,000s of ZFS file systems…”?
The docs state:
"On systems with 1,000s of ZFS file systems, provision 1 GB of extra memory for every 10,000 mounted file systems including snapshots."
What does that mean - how do these people use ...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
Bandwidth efficient software RAID [closed]
I have this crazy idea .. that might just work if I find my missing piece
Take network with 40 windows workstations (on 24 hours)
Each machine uses 20 GB out of 500 GB capacity
Install free copy of ...
63
votes
2answers
6k views
What are the different widely used RAID levels and when should I consider them?
This is a Canonical Question about RAID levels.
What are:
the RAID levels typically used (including the RAID-Z family)?
deployments are they commonly found in?
benefits and pitfalls of each?
...
0
votes
1answer
74 views
Raid group on a p2000g3 iscsi
I have to set up an hypervR2 cluster (2nodes) and a san storage (hp p2000g3 iscsi) with 12 disks (300 GO, 10k SAS)
The p2000 has 2 controllers.
What is the best ?
ONe big raid group (raid10) with the ...
1
vote
0answers
107 views
Virtual linux drive on a NAS - recommendations
I have a Linux server currently running under a Microsoft Virtual Machine. I have it set up so that the storage drive is set up as a secondary virtual disk. I need to move this machine to a new box ...
0
votes
5answers
147 views
Desktop HDD in a server? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What are the merits of SAS vs SATA drives?
Would it be OK to use a SATA 6Gb/s desktop drive in a server?
Say for example a 4 Seagate ST31000524AS drives in a raid 10 ...
2
votes
3answers
211 views
Best way to attach 96 tb to workstation
I'm running a workstation with dual xeon 5690's (12 physical/24 logical cores), 192 gb of ram (ie, maxed-out), Windows 7 64bit, 5 slots for adapter cards, and 1 tb of internal storage, with 5 more ...
1
vote
1answer
244 views
How to diagnose storage system scaling problems?
We are currently testing the maximum sequential read throughput of a storage system
(48 disks total behind two HP P2000 arrays) connected to HP DL580 G7 running RHEL 5 with 128 GB of memory.
Initial ...
