[SGVLUG] Cluster Filesystems

[Max Clark]

Hi all,

A recent failure of a customer's NetApp has again left me looking for a 
better approach to network storage - specifically in the redundancy and 
replication model. For the sites that can afford it we recommend and 
sell the Isilon systems which give what I am looking for... multiple 
nodes striped together to provide a distributed pool of storage that can 
  survive a node failure.

Ideally I'd love to run the Google File System 
(http://labs.google.com/papers/gfs.html) but I don't think they would 
give me a copy. Which leaves me with AFS and CODA. Can anyone give me 
real world examples/tips/tricks with these systems?

I would like to be able to take a bunch of 1U single CPU machines with 
dual 250GB-500GB hard drives and cluster them together as a single NAS 
system supporting NFS/CIFS clients. I figure I should be able to get 
0.2TB of usable protected storage into a node for ~$800/ea, this would 
mean $5,600 for 1TB of protected storage (assuming parity and n+1).

Thoughts and opinions would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Max

-- 
   Max Clark
   max [at] clarksys.com
   http://www.clarksys.com