freebsd stable - Apr 2006 - Needs suggestion for redundant Storage

Hi everyone,

i need suggestions and hints about an redundant
storage-system.

My requirements are:
a Storage that is available via Network, flexible in scalation,
and must be redundant, and cheap if possible....

My Own suggestion was this  scenario:

2 boxes very cheap for ~300$
2 or more SATA-II-Controller ~30$(SIL)
4 or more Disks with 200-250GB ~100$/piece

the configuration that i think:

the 2 boxes became 2 virtaul IP-Addresses for CARP to
manage Master/Slave.

the Extra SATA disks get configured wit geom as big volumes or
any other configuration (not very important, but the 2 boxes should
have the same configuration)

the big-Volume created by geom/ccd/gvinum or any other should get
mirrored over the Net to the other box.....i think ggated/ggated get
my best friends...

Has anyone experiences or suggestion for those scenario?
the only component that i has used today was gmirror......

thanks a lot for any Help.


regards

michael

Michael Schuh wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> i need suggestions and hints about an redundant
> storage-system.
> 
> My requirements are:
> a Storage that is available via Network, flexible in scalation,
> and must be redundant, and cheap if possible....
> 
> My Own suggestion was this  scenario:
> 
> 2 boxes very cheap for ~300$
> 2 or more SATA-II-Controller ~30$(SIL)
> 4 or more Disks with 200-250GB ~100$/piece
You've obviously chosen to prioritize cheap above anything else with these 
recommendations.  :-)  You simply can't spend less than a grand and expect 
to get even one decent fileserver, much less a pair of machines.

Do not get a Silicon Image SATA controller.

If you want to value redundancy and the ability to scale, you ought to look 
at NAS or SAN systems, such as NetApp filers, or maybe even an Apple Xserve 
and a Fibre-channel switch.

Even if you're not willing to pay that much, you should at least consider 
what those solutions offer for their pricepoints, and then decide what your 
data is worth to you and what your requirements should be.

At the very least, get a multiport SATA RAID controller with a decent-sized 
RAM cache of its own and an internal battery to keep the drives going until 
that cache can be flushed.  As well as an external UPS, right...?

-- 
-Chuck