[Linux-cluster] GFS cluster components?

[Brian Jackson]

On Wed, 1 Sep 2004 15:05:49 +0200 (CEST), Christian Nygaard
<chris at math.uu.se> wrote:
> 
> Is there a way to build a cheap and stable GFS system? What components
> would you recommend?

It depends on your definition of cheap and stable. No, GFS isn't
magically going to give you 5 9's of uptime with $100 worth of
hardware. At this point, GFS's SAN roots are still there, so I'd
suggest a SAN if you really want reliable (although it is possible to
build a GFS setup without a SAN). You can also use a regular network
(although I'd suggest at least gigabit ethernet) and something like
GNBD, iSCSI, etc. to build it. You can also use a firewire drive
connected between 2 computers for the really cheap (although the
reliability is pretty much gone at this point). One thing to note is
that currently the kernel's software raid layer isn't cluster
friendly, so you won't have a way to do data redundancy unless your
storage array/etc. is doing it.

--Brian Jackson

> 
> Thanks for your input,
> Chris
>