James - The setup you've described is pretty standard, if we assume that you are going to mount each array at /mnt/array{1-8}, your volume will be called vol1, and your servers are named server{1-4} your gluster volume create command would be - Without replicas - #gluster volume create vol1 transport tcp server1:/mnt/array1 server2:/mnt/array1 server3:/mnt/array1 server4:/mnt/array1 server1:/mnt/array2 server2:/mnt/array2 server3:/mnt/array2 server4:/mnt/array2 server1:/mnt/array3 server2:/mnt/array3 server3:/mnt/array3 server4:/mnt/array3 server1:/mnt/array4 server2:/mnt/array4 server3:/mnt/array4 server4:/mnt/array4 server1:/mnt/array5 server2:/mnt/array5 server3:/mnt/array5 server4:/mnt/array5 server1:/mnt/array6 server2:/mnt/array6 server3:/mnt/array6 server4:/mnt/array6 server1:/mnt/array7 server2:/mnt/array7 server3:/mnt/array7 server4:/mnt/array7 server1:/mnt/array8 server2:/mnt/array8 server3:/mnt/array8 server4:/mnt/array8 This would get you a single 512TB NFS mount. With replicas(2) - #gluster volume create vol1 replica 2 transport tcp server1:/mnt/array1 server2:/mnt/array1 server3:/mnt/array1 server4:/mnt/array1 server1:/mnt/array2 server2:/mnt/array2 server3:/mnt/array2 server4:/mnt/array2 server1:/mnt/array3 server2:/mnt/array3 server3:/mnt/array3 server4:/mnt/array3 server1:/mnt/array4 server2:/mnt/array4 server3:/mnt/array4 server4:/mnt/array4 server1:/mnt/array5 server2:/mnt/array5 server3:/mnt/array5 server4:/mnt/array5 server1:/mnt/array6 server2:/mnt/array6 server3:/mnt/array6 server4:/mnt/array6 server1:/mnt/array7 server2:/mnt/array7 server3:/mnt/array7 server4:/mnt/array7 server1:/mnt/array8 server2:/mnt/array8 server3:/mnt/array8 server4:/mnt/array8 This would get you a single 256TB HA NFS mount. Gluster specifically doesn't care about LUN/brick size, the ability to create smaller LUNs without affecting the presentation of that space is a positive side effect of using Gluster. Smaller LUN's are useful in several ways, faster fsck's on the LUN if that is ever required, there is a minor performance hit to running bricks of different sizes in the same volume, small LUNs make that easier. Thanks, Craig --> Craig Carl Senior Systems Engineer Gluster On 12/01/2010 08:29 AM, Burnash, James wrote: > Hello. > > So, here's my problem. > > I have 4 storage servers that will be configured as replicate + distribute, each of which has two external storage arrays, each with their own controller. Those external arrays will be used to store archived large (10GB) files that will only be read-only after their initial copy to the glusterfs storage. > > Currently, the external arrays are the items of interest. What I'd like to do is this: > > - Create multiple hardware RAID 5 arrays on each storage server, which would present to the OS as approx 8 16TB physical drives. > - Create an ext3 file system on each of those devices (I'm using CentOS 5.5. so ext4 is still not really an option for me) > - Mount those multiple file systems to the storage server, and then aggregate them all under gluster to export under a single namespace to NFS and the Gluster client. > > How do I aggregate those multiple file systems without involving LVM in some way. > > I've read that Glusterfs likes "small" bricks, though I haven't really been able to track down why. Any pointers to good technical info on this subject would also be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > > James Burnash, Unix Engineering > > > DISCLAIMER: > This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please immediately notify me and permanently delete the original and any copy of any e-mail and any printout thereof. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. > NOTICE REGARDING PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY Knight Capital Group may, at its discretion, monitor and review the content of all e-mail communications. http://www.knight.com > _______________________________________________ > Gluster-users mailing list > Gluster-users at gluster.org > http://gluster.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gluster-users