On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 04:56:57PM -0400, Jeff Darcy wrote: > > But with nfs client use, and/or gluster client use locally on one of the > > mirroring gluster servers, it still looks like best practice to use a > > crossover to me. Or do I have the logic wrong? > > In those cases you're correct so long as there are only two servers > (another case I tend not to focus on BTW). That didn't seem like what > you were talking about, though, since you mentioned both client-side > volfiles (which wouldn't be used in the NFS case) and private addresses > (which wouldn't be hidden from clients which are also servers). I > therefore concluded that you must be talking about native protocol > between two servers and separate clients. I'm talking about a mixed environment. I've presently got - for the same two servers - gluster-mirrored storage used by clients on the servers, as well as gluster-mirrored storage by nfs clients elsewhere on a LAN. I would _also_ like to use gluster clients on the LAN, to connect to storage on these boxes, but so far those don't work for me in this configuration. (At least with 3.1.4 clients as they compile on Ubuntu 8.04.4. Maybe the bug I'm hitting isn't in the tree I'm barking up here.) While it's exciting that gluster can handle huge amounts of data for the likes of Pandora, there are many shops with smaller data storage needs, whose main goal is consolidating systems in some approximation of an HA environment. Largish SAS RAID arrays are cheap now, especially if you don't care much about spindle speed. Servers with a couple of 8-core CPUs are also cheap. So the temptation is: Take a couple of such servers, put a crossover between them, and mirror some of their disk storage for HA. Use some of that storage for servers elsewhere on the LAN, some locally. Use some of the local storage for kvm vms hosted on these same servers.... What was a whole rack of servers a few years ago can easily fold down to just a couple of boxes like this today. All the excitement seems to be about huge clouds, but small clouds are fun too, and useful. Best, Whit
