[linux-lvm] Raid and LVM, GFS newbie question

[linux-lvm] Raid and LVM, GFS newbie question

[Mr. David]

Hi,
I apologize if my questions are too basic for the list.  I am new to 
Redhat implementation in production environment.  I am in proccess of 
impletmenting Redhat ES 2.1 and Redhat AS 2.1..  My background is solaris.

1.  How does most people manage root file systems in linux production 
environment?  I have two JBOD scsi disks for root file systems.  I 
already install the OS on one disk.  I just need to mirror the OS disk 
to the other disk.  Do I use raidtool? or do I use LVM to mirror?  How 
does raidtool and LVM work together?  Or does LVM have RAID 0, 1, 5 
capability also?  What is the easiest/best setup for 24/7 production 
environment?

2.  I need to have LVM support for data disks, does ES 2.1 or AS 2.1 
come with LVM?  If not how difficult is it to implement it.  Is it 
recommended with ES 2.1 or AS 2.1?  Your reccomendation?

4.  How do people do this in production if you have to mass install 
identical systems with Root file systems using Software RAID or LVM?   
Will Ghost/DD do the job?  Any reccomdation?

3.  I need to have mulitiple nodes see the same file systems through the 
SAN impletmentation.  I read about Sistina's GFS.   Is this product 
similar to Veritas SanPoint foundation suite where multiple nodes can 
see same file systems.  How much does GFS cost for, say  for 2 cpu's, 4 
- 6 nodes?  Are there other products that does similiar job?

Thank you for your help!

Re: [linux-lvm] Raid and LVM, GFS newbie question

[Greg Freemyer]

On Sat, 2004-01-24 at 15:40, Mr. David wrote:
<snip>
> 3.  I need to have mulitiple nodes see the same file systems through the 
> SAN impletmentation.  I read about Sistina's GFS.   Is this product 
> similar to Veritas SanPoint foundation suite where multiple nodes can 
> see same file systems.  How much does GFS cost for, say  for 2 cpu's, 4 
> - 6 nodes?  Are there other products that does similiar job?
> 
> Thank you for your help!
> 
If you are considering GFS, you may want to know:

GFS was developed as opensource by Sistina.

18 months ago (I think) it was taken commercial.

The old opensource logic was the basis of the OpenGFS project.

Since then, both have diverged.

OpenGFS does NOT have a fault tolerant lock-server solution yet, so if
the lock-server dies, your whole file-system crashes.

I don't think GFS does either.

The OpenGFS project has CVS code that uses the IBM distributed lock
server.  It is at the very initial testing phase, and definately NOT
usable yet.

I don't know if GFS is working on a fault-tolerant lock-server solution.

Redhat is in the process of buying Sistina.  "Search the news section of
Google for Sistina."

Once done, Redhat "plans to offer Sistina's file system and storage
technologies as open source software."  They will also be supporting it
at some point in the future.

Greg