SAS questions

[sniper7kills]

I need to build a SAS. I know I'm going to use openfiler as the OS.

Ive chosen this case: http://www.plinkusa.net/web4121.htm

My questions are:

What is the best way I should do raid?

1 card, Multiple cards?

How can I set up this server so it is expandable?

Should i just get direct attached storage? or can i buy a second case and just add an external sata ports?

[VaKo]

Unless your committed to Openfiller you should look at Solaris 10 and ZFS + RaidZ.

[sniper7kills]

Unless your committed to Openfiller you should look at Solaris 10 and ZFS + RaidZ.

That looks very interesting, I would jump on that if it were for personal use. But I'm not sure if i would want to use it in a production environment. I will keep it in mind though and keep researching it.

[VaKo]

Solaris would be solid in a production environment.

[sniper7kills]

OK, I spent most of last night looking at raidz, and i think i have a general understanding (I've never used Solaris).

Raidz:

you can add disks to an array

its all "software" based (there is not controller like raid 5/6 etc.)

the data is all check summed allowing a file to be fixed if it get corrupted.

Now is there a web interface similar to Openfiler's that I can download so i don't have to do everything from the command line (major selling point for me)? Or at least one that will allow me to set up my shares (NFS, CIFS, iSCSI, etc)?

[VaKo]

Its been awhile since I used it, but ZFS/RAIDZ comes with a gui - http://blogs.sun.com/talley/entry/manage_z...om_your_browser

As for setting up shares, you can get a gui like netdirector or webmin might work, I'm not sure about built in options for this though.

I'll ask my boss, he's just built a 22TB setup using solaris and a sun thumper box.