Linux Storage system: looking for advices Post: 302384126

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Special Forums Hardware Filesystems, Disks and Memory Linux Storage system: looking for advices Post 302384126 by Loic Domaigne on Monday 4th of January 2010 05:52:11 AM

01-04-2010

Registered User

Linux Storage system: looking for advices

Gidday!

I'd like to setup a storage server for a friend of mine (he is a hobby photographer, and he produces about 100Gb pictures monthly). My friend has the following PC-Server-like system:

AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 4850e.
ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI motherboard with 6 SATA connectors.
3Gb RAM.
6 SATA HD of different capacity (ranging from 1.2 - 2 Tb) and manufacturers.
1 Adaptec RAID Controller 1220SA able to create RAID 0, 1, JBOD array.

Currently, the SATA connectors are occupied as follow: 1 is used by the DVD writer, 4 by SATA HD and 1 is free. 2 SATA HDs are connected to the Adaptec RAID controller.

Using this system, we'd like to create a Linux based storage server. Basically,
the disk arrays should be used to hold the OS and the regular data (pictures). To face possible HD failures or unwanted deletions, some scripts shall backup periodically the important pictures to an external RAID-5 NAS.

The requirements for the storage solution are:

to get as much storage capacity as possible,
in case of a disk crash, it is acceptable to loose the data on the disk (the important data are backup on the NAS), BUT it is not acceptable to loose the entire storage.
the storage should be flexible, i.e. allow failed drives to be replaced or allow to replace HDs with bigger HDs if required.
the storage should be easy to use. Ideally, the 6 drives should be exposed as 1 virtual drive to outside.
the storage should accessible from a MacBook (using for instance, NFS). As a matter of fact, my friend work-out his picture from his MAC and the storage should be integrated as seamlessly as possible in the "MAC world".

I initially thought of creating a logical volume with LVM containing the 6 drives, set-up an ext3 file system than spans the whole volume and finally mount the volume to a well known location (e.g. /srv/data). I am afraid however that with this scheme, a single HD failure causes the entire storage to fail.

What would you recommend, given the above PC configuration and requirements for the storage? Buying additional Hardware (e.g. RAID controller) could eventually be an option.

Any ideas, pointers or links are welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Lo�c.

Loic Domaigne

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LEARN ABOUT SUNOS

raidctl

raidctl(1M)						  System Administration Commands					       raidctl(1M)

NAME

       raidctl - RAID hardware utility

SYNOPSIS

       raidctl -c disk1 disk2

       raidctl -d disk1

       raidctl [-f] -F filename controller...

       raidctl -l [controller...]

DESCRIPTION

       The  raidctl  utility  creates, deletes, or displays RAID volumes of the LSI1030 HW Raid controllers that include RAID support. The utility
       also updates firmware/fcode/BIOS for both RAID and non-RAID controllers.

       The raidctl utility requires privileges that are controlled by the underlying file-system permissions. Only privileged users can manipulate
       the RAID system configuration. If a non-privileged user attempts to create or delete a RAID volume, the command fails with EPERM.

       Without options, raidctl displays the current RAID configuration on all exisiting controllers.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -c disk1 disk2 (for on board)

	   Create  a  mirror using disk1 and disk2. Replace the contents of disk2 with the contents of disk1. Specify disk1 and disk2 in canonical
	   form, for example, c0t0d0.

	   When you create a a RAID volume, the RAID volume assumes the identity of the first target in the disk pair (disk1). The  second  target
	   (disk2) disappears from the system. Therefore, the RAID volume appears as one disk.

	   To  have  a successful RAID creation, there must not already be a RAID configuration present on the specified controller. Additionally,
	   the secondary disk must not be mounted, as it has all its data erased and replaced with the primary disk's data.

       -d disk1 (for on board)

	   Delete the RAID volume specified as disk1.

	   Specify disk1 in canonical form, for example, c0t0d0.

       -f (for HBA)

	   Force an update. Do not prompt.

       -F filename controller (for HBA)

	   Update the firmware running on the specified controller (controller).

       -l [controller ...] (for on board)

	   List the system's RAID configuration. If controller is specified, list RAID configurations for controller.

	   Output from the -l lists the following information:

	   RAID Volume	   Displays logical RAID volume name.

	   RAID Status	   Displays RAID status as either RESYNCING (disks are syncing), DEGRADED RAID is operating with  reduced  functionality),
			   OK (operating optimally), or FAILED (non-functional).

	   RAID Disk	   Displays RAID disk name.

	   Disk Status	   Displays disk status as either OK or FAILED.

EXAMPLES

       Example 1: Creating the RAID Configuration

       The following command creates the RAID configuration:

       # raidctl -c c0t0d0 c0t1d0
       RAID Volume 'c0t0d0' created

       Example 2: Displaying the RAID Configuration

       The following command displays the RAID configuration:

       # raidctl
       RAID	 RAID	   RAID      Disk
       Volume	 Status    Disk      Status
       ----------------------------------------
       c0t0d0	 RESYNCING c0t0d0    OK
			   c0t1d0    OK

       Example 3: Deleting the RAID Configuration

       The following command deletes the RAID configuration:

       # raidctl -d c0t0d0
       RAID Volume 'c0t0d0' deleted

       Example 4: Updating Flash Images on the Controller

       The following command updates flash images on the controller:

       # raidctl -F lsi1030.fw 0
       Update flash image on controller 0? (y/N): y
       Flash updated successfully

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0	Successful completion.

       1	Invalid command line input.

       2	Request operation failed.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       attributes(5)

       System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

SunOS 5.10							    17 Aug 2004 						       raidctl(1M)