[Linux-cluster] GFS2 for multimedia

[Rabeeh Khoury]

Hi All,

I would like to consult with you guys the usage GFS2 for home multimedia
usage.

Clearly GFS2 is intended for enterprise system and the following is not
where it was meant to be. But for the sake of the discussion -

The systems are 4 ARM based system every one running at 200MHz (low-end
systems) where on the master system a local SATA HDD /dev/sda and the
other 3 are connected to the master system via iSCSI running all GFS2
with DLM using Ethernet.

The details are as following -
1. Master system writes concurrently to 8 files and has 8 (files) x
10Mbps = 80Mbps (Mega bit per second) files write and 1 x 40Mbps file
read
2. The slaves has 3 (systems) x 1 (file per system) x 40Mbps = 120Mbps
total file read from the master
3. Every I/O to the files are all with O-direct, bypassing Linux cache
buffer but GFS2 mounted to cache D-entry etc...
4. There might be cases of single writer and multiple readers, and cases
of write only.
5. The slaves and master are in consumer home environment where shutting
down (gracefully or by force) is a common scenario.
6. Assume ARM CPUs have enough headroom for handling the required
workload, especially the master system.

The questions -
1. What are the risks and things can be missed in such environment?
2. Any idea if someone tried this before?
3. Other thoughts, suggestions, recommendations and ideas?

Regards,
Rabeeh