zfs discuss - Apr 2008 - Newbie question: ZFS on Xserve RAID with Solaris 10

--Apologies if you get two copies of this message - it was submitted  
for moderation and hasn''t appeared on the list in two days, so
I''m
resubmitting.

Hi all,
Just a quick question. Is it possible to utilise an Apple Xserve RAID  
as an array for use with ZFS with RAID-Z in Solaris?

I''ve seen various mentions of ''zfs'' and
''xserve raid'' in the same
sentence around the web, but nothing conclusive as to whether Solaris/ 
ZFS is able to see each physical disk within the array as a physical  
disk- or whether you have to rely on the RAID''s internal controllers  
and treat the whole thing as two (probably RAID-5) sets. I want to use  
our 2.5TB Xserve RAID array with a Solaris 10 server.

I really want to take advantage of the advanced features of ZFS like  
RAID-Z and protection against silent data corruption, but obviously I  
don''t want to jump into a host-bus-adaptor card if I''m not
going to be
able to do that! Has anyone any experience of setting this up?

Thanks,

Graeme

--
Graeme West
Web Services Development Architect
Spoken Word Services
Glasgow Caledonian University

Email: graeme.west at gcal.ac.uk
Tel: (+44) 0141 331 8544
Project web site:
http://www.spokenword.ac.uk/



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On Apr 12, 2008, at 07:52, Graeme West wrote:
> Just a quick question. Is it possible to utilise an Apple Xserve  
> RAID as an array for use with ZFS with RAID-Z in Solaris?
Yes. In one of our development labs we have the "Xraid" (now  
discontinued) exporting things as a JBOD and using ZFS to tie things  
together.

Note that Apple is now pushing a third-party unit ("Promise VTrak E- 
Class") as their storage solution:

http://www.apple.com/server/storage/

Hi David,
Thanks, that''s good news, as we''re trying to repurpose an
Xserve RAID
with some new servers.
> exporting things as a JBOD and using ZFS to tie things together.

That''s exactly what I want to do. Our current setup is two mirrored  
RAID-5 arrays, so we''d probably set up a couple of RAID-Zs in ZFS  
after having the Xserve RAID present things to the server as  JBOD.

Do you happen to have a note of the settings from the Xserve RAID  
admin utility in order to present things as a JBOD? It may be  
straightforward, I''m not too familiar with the utility.

Thanks,

Graeme

On 12 Apr 2008, at 14:40, David Magda wrote:
> On Apr 12, 2008, at 07:52, Graeme West wrote:
>
>> Just a quick question. Is it possible to utilise an Apple Xserve
>> RAID as an array for use with ZFS with RAID-Z in Solaris?
>
> Yes. In one of our development labs we have the "Xraid" (now
> discontinued) exporting things as a JBOD and using ZFS to tie things
> together.
>
> Note that Apple is now pushing a third-party unit ("Promise VTrak E-
> Class") as their storage solution:
>
> http://www.apple.com/server/storage/
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> zfs-discuss mailing list
> zfs-discuss at opensolaris.org
> http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
>
> Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies'' email  
> management service - www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems

On Apr 12, 2008, at 10:23, Graeme West wrote:
> Do you happen to have a note of the settings from the Xserve RAID  
> admin utility in order to present things as a JBOD? It may be  
> straightforward, I''m not too familiar with the utility.
Not off-hand. It''s a separate dev group that tends to do their own  
thing. I''m aware of the hardware being used, but not the specifics.  
I''d have to ask around if you want details.

Graeme West wrote:
> --Apologies if you get two copies of this message - it was submitted 
> for moderation and hasn''t appeared on the list in two days, so
I''m
> resubmitting.
>
> Hi all,
> Just a quick question. Is it possible to utilise an Apple Xserve RAID 
> as an array for use with ZFS with RAID-Z in Solaris?
>
I would expect it to work.  IIRC, the Xserve is based on an Engenio
controller, which is what Sun sells in several of its StorageTek arrays.
Apple and Sun get their RAID arrays from OEMs.
 -- richard

Hi David,
Thanks, there''s no need to ask around. I should be able to work it out.

Thanks for your help.

Graeme
On 12 Apr 2008, at 15:47, David Magda wrote:
> On Apr 12, 2008, at 10:23, Graeme West wrote:
>
>> Do you happen to have a note of the settings from the Xserve RAID  
>> admin utility in order to present things as a JBOD? It may be  
>> straightforward, I''m not too familiar with the utility.
>
> Not off-hand. It''s a separate dev group that tends to do their own
> thing. I''m aware of the hardware being used, but not the
specifics.
> I''d have to ask around if you want details.
>
> Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies'' email  
> management service - www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems