Storage options for Sun E450 / Linux?

Storage options for Sun E450 / Linux?

[sean.upton]

I have a Sun Ultra Enterprise 450 Server that is likely going to end up
running Linux for use as a PostgreSQL database server and occasional file
server (using knfsd, only as a hot backup to another box).   As some of you
may know, compared to other Sun hardware, the E450 has lots of internal
expansion room; right now, I'm currently evaluating storage options for it,
as I only have a minimal configuration (4 9GB disks).

I likely plan on filling up the other 16 bays with 18GB and/or 36GB drives,
and am evaluating options in deciding hardware vs. software RAID.  The
likely setup here would be several volumes of RAID 0+1, which shouldn't be
very taxing on the CPU in the software RAID setup.  However, I wonder what
hardware RAID options might be open to me for internal expansion.

Is anybody using an E450 with hardware RAID controllers they would
recommend?  Anybody using software RAID with multiple USCSI controllers in
the E450?  Are the USCSI controllers that are bundled with the 8-slot
backplanes that Sun sells supported by the kernel?  What about the RAID
controllers?

Out of curiosity, what does it take to support RAID controllers supported by
Linux/Intel to work on Linux/Sparc?

Sorry to sound like a real novice here; I've got plenty of experience with
Linux on Intel and PPC - and I'm comfortable working with Linux on Sparc,
but the extent to which I have used ultralinux is only on my Ultra 10
workstation, not on any bigger hardware like the 450.

I'd be grateful to anyone who had any thoughts here.
Thanks,
Sean

============Sean Upton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
SignOnSanDiego.com
The San Diego Union-Tribune
619.718.5241
sean.upton@uniontrib.com
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RE: Storage options for Sun E450 / Linux?

[Jerry Cloe]

I don't have a specific recommendation for you on software vs hardware
except to say that the performance edge with hardware is almost always worth
the extra $$$.  I would say the final decision should lay with how much of a
load your going to put on the SQL database server, light usage, go software,
heavy usage, go hardware.

Something that I do want to comment on, is the case of the E450.  I'm not
familiar with this particular box, but other cases that have lots of room
can handle a cabinet full of 9gig's just fine but will burn up 18 and 36 gig
drives (yes, they do run hotter).  I kept burning up drive after drive and
when I got ahold of tech support and they figured out I kept burning up
drives, it finally came down to a heat problem.  Spread them across another
expansion cabinet and everythign was just fine.  Now I don't know the
cooling fan situation and stuff with your box, but it is a big problem I've
seen...



> -----Original Message-----
> From: sparclinux-owner@vger.kernel.org
> [mailto:sparclinux-owner@vger.kernel.org]On Behalf Of
> sean.upton@uniontrib.com
> Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 3:12 PM
> To: sparclinux@vger.kernel.org; ultralinux@vger.kernel.org
> Subject: Storage options for Sun E450 / Linux?
>
>
> I have a Sun Ultra Enterprise 450 Server that is likely going to end up
> running Linux for use as a PostgreSQL database server and occasional file
> server (using knfsd, only as a hot backup to another box).   As
> some of you
> may know, compared to other Sun hardware, the E450 has lots of internal
> expansion room; right now, I'm currently evaluating storage
> options for it,
> as I only have a minimal configuration (4 9GB disks).
>
> I likely plan on filling up the other 16 bays with 18GB and/or
> 36GB drives,
> and am evaluating options in deciding hardware vs. software RAID.  The
> likely setup here would be several volumes of RAID 0+1, which shouldn't be
> very taxing on the CPU in the software RAID setup.  However, I wonder what
> hardware RAID options might be open to me for internal expansion.
>
> Is anybody using an E450 with hardware RAID controllers they would
> recommend?  Anybody using software RAID with multiple USCSI controllers in
> the E450?  Are the USCSI controllers that are bundled with the 8-slot
> backplanes that Sun sells supported by the kernel?  What about the RAID
> controllers?
>
> Out of curiosity, what does it take to support RAID controllers
> supported by
> Linux/Intel to work on Linux/Sparc?
>
> Sorry to sound like a real novice here; I've got plenty of experience with
> Linux on Intel and PPC - and I'm comfortable working with Linux on Sparc,
> but the extent to which I have used ultralinux is only on my Ultra 10
> workstation, not on any bigger hardware like the 450.
>
> I'd be grateful to anyone who had any thoughts here.
> Thanks,
> Sean
>
> ============> Sean Upton
> Senior Programmer/Analyst
> SignOnSanDiego.com
> The San Diego Union-Tribune
> 619.718.5241
> sean.upton@uniontrib.com
> ============> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe sparclinux" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>

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Re: Storage options for Sun E450 / Linux?

[David S. Miller]

   X-Coding-System: iso-8859-1-unix
   From: sean.upton@uniontrib.com
   Date: 	Fri, 05 Jan 2001 13:12:18 -0800

   Is anybody using an E450 with hardware RAID controllers they would
   recommend?  Anybody using software RAID with multiple USCSI
   controllers in the E450?  Are the USCSI controllers that are
   bundled with the 8-slot backplanes that Sun sells supported by the
   kernel?  What about the RAID controllers?

Someone else made commentary about disks to use, so I'll answer the
RAID bits.

Currently your only option is software raid.  I think it's more
flexible and honestly from what I've seen, all claims about
significant performance gains of hw RAID vs. sw RAID have amounting to
nothing more than hot air.  Moreso I've seen that hw RAID when it
fails can be a pain in the ass to fix up, and in many such cases sw
RAID would have allowed the partitions to be recovered.

Later,
David S. Miller
davem@redhat.com
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