From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Chris Allen Subject: Large single raid and XFS or two small ones and EXT3? Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:11:56 +0100 Message-ID: <449AEB7C.6040108@cjx.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: linux-raid@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-raid.ids Dear All, I have a Linux storage server containing 16x750GB drives - so 12TB raw space. If I make them into a single RAID5 array, then it appears my only choice for a filesystem is XFS - as EXT3 won't really handle partitions over 8TB. Alternatively, I could split each drive into 2 partitions and have 2 RAID5 arrays, then put an EXT3 on each one. Can anybody advise the pros and cons of these two approaches with regard to stability, reliability and performance? The store is to be used for files which will have an even split of: 33% approx 2MB in size 33% approx 50KB in size 33% approx 2KB in size Also: - I am running a 2.6.15-1 stock FC5 kernel. Would there be any RAID benefits in me upgrading to the latest 2.6.16 kernel? (don't want to do this unless there is very good reason to) - I am running mdadm 2.3.1. Would there be any benefits for me in upgrading to mdadm v2.5? - I have read good things about bitmaps. Are these production ready? Any advice/caveats? Many thanks for reading, Chris Allen.