Greg, you can use a diskless shared root configuration with gfs. This setup would enable you to add cluster nodes as you need them. Have a look at http://www.open-sharedroot.org/ Mark On Wednesday 12 April 2006 17:21, Greg Perry wrote: > Thanks Bowie, I understand more now. So within this architecture, it > would make more sense to utilize a RAID-5/10 SAN, then add diskless > workstations as needed for performance...? > > For said diskless workstations, does it make sense to run Stateless > Linux to keep the images the same across all of the workstations/client > machines? > > Regards > > Greg > > Bowie Bailey wrote: > > Greg Perry wrote: > >> I have been researching GFS for a few days, and I have some questions > >> that hopefully some seasoned users of GFS may be able to answer. > >> > >> I am working on the design of a linux cluster that needs to be > >> scalable, it will be primarily an RDBMS-driven data warehouse used > >> for data mining and content indexing. In an ideal world, we would be > >> able to start with a small (say 4 node) cluster, then add machines > >> (and storage) as the various RDBMS' grow in size (as well as the use > >> virtual IPs for load balancing across multiple lighttpd instances. > >> All machines on the node need to be able to talk to the same volume > >> of information, and GFS (in theory at least) would be used to > >> aggregate the drives from each machine into that huge shared logical > >> volume). > >> > >> With that being said, here are some questions: > >> > >> 1) What is the preference on the RDBMS, will MySQL 5.x work and are > >> there any locking issues to consider? What would the best open source > >> RDBMS be (MySQL vs. Postgresql etc) > > > > Someone more qualified than me will have to answer that question. > > > >> 2) If there was a 10 machine cluster, each with a 300GB SATA drive, > >> can you use GFS to aggregate all 10 drives into one big logical 3000GB > >> volume? Would that scenario work similar to a RAID array? If one or > >> two nodes fail, but the GFS quorum is maintained, can those nodes be > >> replaced and repopulated just like a RAID-5 array? If this scenario > >> is possible, how difficult is it to "grow" the shared logical volume > >> by adding additional nodes (say I had two more machines each with a > >> 300GB SATA drive)? > > > > GFS doesn't work that way. GFS is just a fancy filesystem. It takes > > an already shared volume and allows all of the nodes to access it at > > the same time. > > > >> 3) How stable is GFS currently, and is it used in many production > >> environments? > > > > It seems to be stable for me, but we are still in testing mode at the > > moment. > > > >> 4) How stable is the FC5 version, and does it include all of the > >> configuration utilities in the RH Enterprise Cluster version? (the > >> idea would be to prove the point on FC5, then migrate to RH > >> Enterprise). > > > > Haven't used that one. > > > >> 5) Would CentOS be preferred over FC5 for the initial > >> proof of concept and early adoption? > > > > If your eventual platform is RHEL, then CentOS would make more sense > > for a testing platform since it is almost identical to RHEL. Fedora > > can be less stable and may introduce some issues that you wouldn't have > > with RHEL. On the other hand, RHEL may have some problems that don't > > appear on Fedora because of updated packages. > > > > If you want bleeding edge, use Fedora. > > If you want stability, use CentOS or RHEL. > > > >> 6) Are there any restrictions or performance advantages of using all > >> drives with the same geometry, or can you mix and match different size > >> drives and just add to the aggregate volume size? > > > > As I said earlier, GFS does not do the aggregation. > > > > What you get with GFS is the ability to share an already networked > > storage volume. You can use iSCSI, AoE, GNBD, or others to connect > > the storage to all of the cluster nodes. Then you format the volume > > with GFS so that it can be used with all of the nodes. > > > > I believe there is a project for the aggregate filesystem that you are > > looking for, but as far as I know, it is still beta. > > -- > > Linux-cluster@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-cluster -- Gruss / Regards, Dipl.-Ing. Mark Hlawatschek Phone: +49-89 121 409-55 http://www.atix.de/ http://www.open-sharedroot.org/ ** ATIX - Ges. fuer Informationstechnologie und Consulting mbH Einsteinstr. 10 - 85716 Unterschleissheim - Germany -- Linux-cluster@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-cluster
