Need help with storage solution, Raid, Front-end servers/ Coraid?

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Posted by user_nick, 09-11-2007, 10:20 AM
Hello, First of all I'm not the direct tech so I'm not able to explain things like a pro but I'll give it a shot! We're currently serving approx. 150mbit of traffic (mainly video files) via 2 round robin'ed front-end servers. The front-end servers are NFS mounting the content blades so we can access all content via dedicated links to each blade, A,B,C like: mainsite.com/A/files.wmv (blade A) mainsite.com/B/files.wmv (blade B) mainsite.com/C/files.wmv (blade C) We're fed up with this way of structuring our content because of space issues and because we need to go to blade A to get file X.wmv and to blade C for Y.wmv We're looking for a better solution and we need your help, I have looked at the producs from Coraid, e.g: http://www.coraid.com/purchase.html look for "Bundle - CLN21 + SR1521" Would this be a way to do it? it will give us plenty of storage space and if we could buy 2 sets, we could mirror the sets and mount a set to each front end server to have some failover protection? and we could remove the A,B,C areas and have it all under: projectABC/ X.wmv Y.wmv (not so important just an easier way for us to keep track of it) But is Coraid even used for this kinda task or is it a LAN product? Can it keep up with the 150mbit of file requests, 20-400mbit a piece. Another idea was to simply build 2 sets of raid boxed with a 16channel raid card some some disks and it would give us something similar to the coraid? Any input is welcome, I have probably left out a lot of info but just ask for it. Thanks! Nick
Posted by user_nick, 09-11-2007, 10:22 AM
this is for a freebsd setup, and we need some room to grow our traffic too.
Posted by cyberlot, 09-11-2007, 11:18 AM
If they are reading why can't all the blades mount and read the same content?
Posted by user_nick, 09-11-2007, 01:07 PM
I don't understand what you mean, we need much more storage then the current blades can offer. We been sporadic upgrading them over the years with a new disk when it was needed and so on it's a mess. Nick
Posted by cyberlot, 09-12-2007, 08:29 AM
Sorry I misunderstood part of your post. Your thinking something like http://www.dell.com/content/products...=04&l=en&s=bsd 15
Posted by user_nick, 09-12-2007, 08:42 AM
yes something like that, can it be connected directly to a front end server? i need general advice on this.
Posted by dexxtreme, 09-12-2007, 03:58 PM
First off, Coraids require a linux front-end to manage the array, so I don't think that FreeBSD will work for that part of it. However, you can export it as an NFS mount to whatever box you need it to go to. Unfortunately, I have seen nothing but issues with Coraids, particularly when it comes to high-traffic/high-bandwidth loads (e.g., a really busy backup server). Also, I never liked the idea of a 10 disk software RAID (the earlier versions were all software, I don't know about their most recent products).
Posted by cyberlot, 09-13-2007, 08:33 AM
Yes, using fiber raid controller cards, you would just need to make sure there where proper drivers for your freebsd systems. Also another problem, the more servers you want to connect to a single box the more expensive it seems to get, anything past 4 servers and the costs can get extreme soemtimes it seems