CentOS - Dec 2009 - Using (was: Announcing) Gluster Storage Platform

OK, you have my attention.  But reading around on the website for 5 or
10 minutes and I'm still not sure what this is.

What is it?
Why would I use it?
What would I use instead of it?  (Who are its competitors)
When would I not use it?

I see this "The software is a powerful and flexible solution that
simplifies the task of managing unstructured file data", but I have no
idea what "unstructured file data" means.






-- 
?Don't eat anything you've ever seen advertised on TV?
         - Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food"

Alan McKay wrote:
> What is it?
> Why would I use it?
> What would I use instead of it?  (Who are its competitors)
> When would I not use it?
>   
and more importantly, what does it have to do with CentOS ?


note they spammed the postgresql mail list with the same announcement.   
I'm pretty sure I do *not* want to store my postgres databases on such a 
cluster.

Alan McKay wrote:
> OK, you have my attention.  But reading around on the website for 5 or
> 10 minutes and I'm still not sure what this is.
> 
> What is it?
A cluster filesystem
> Why would I use it?
Because the alternatives are either not up to it or fraught with problems.
> What would I use instead of it?  (Who are its competitors)
Maybe Lustre or GFS if you have a small (note: SMALL) deployment.
> When would I not use it?
When you do not need/want a cluster file system that still gives you an 
alternative access mechanism (cifs, nfs, whatever) to your data if 
certain crucial bits go down.
> 
> I see this "The software is a powerful and flexible solution that
> simplifies the task of managing unstructured file data", but I have no
> idea what "unstructured file data" means.
> 
Me neither but I have me eyes on GlusterFS and I have been waiting for 
OpenSolaris support as a client or I will be using Centos 5 as a client.