[Gluster-users] Newbie: Exploring Gluster for large-scale deployment in AWS, large media files, high performance I/O

[Mathieu Chateau]

Hello,

Ok you can stick with NFS, will just have to manage failover if needed.

So they use 4TB hard drive (80TB/20 disks).
each disk can provide let's say 150 io/s max. that means 3000 io/s max,
without raid cost & co.

>From your explaination, I guess you have many workloads running in
parallel, and so 20 disks may not be enough anyway.

You first must be sure that storage can physically provide your needs in
terms or capacity and performance.

Then you can choose solution that fit best your needs.

just my 2cts

Cordialement,
Mathieu CHATEAU
http://www.lotp.fr

2015-07-14 22:21 GMT+02:00 Forrest Aldrich <forrie at gmail.com>:

>  The instances we use via Direct Connect (a third party company) have
> upwards 20 disks and a total of 80T.   That part is covered.
>
> If we were to experiment with EBS, that would be a different case as we'd
> need to stripe them.
>
> Our present model requires one single namespace via NFS.   The Instances
> are running CentOS 6.x.    The Instances mount the Direct Connect disk
> space via NFS, the only other alternative we'd have is iSCSI which wouldn't
> work for the level of sharing we need.
>
>
>
>
> On 7/14/15 4:18 PM, Mathieu Chateau wrote:
>
> by NFS i think you just mean "all servers seeing and changing sames files"
> ? That can be done with fuse, without nfs.
> NFS is harder for failover while automatic with fuse (no need for dynamic
> dns or virtual IP).
>
>  for redundancy I mean : What failure do you want to survive ?
>
>    - Loosing a disk
>    - Filesystem corrupt
>    - Server lost or in maintenance
>    - Whole region down
>
> Depending on your needs, then you may have to replicate data accross
> gluster brick or even use a geo dispersed brick.
>
>  Will network between your servers and node be able to handle that
> traffic (380MB/s = 3040Mb/s) ?
>
>  I guess gluster can handle that load, you are using big files and this
> is where gluster deliver highest output. Nevertheless, you will need many
> disk to provide these i/o, even more if using replicated bricks.
>
>
>  Cordialement,
> Mathieu CHATEAU
> http://www.lotp.fr
>
> 2015-07-14 21:15 GMT+02:00 Forrest Aldrich <forrie at gmail.com>:
>
>>  Sorry, I should have noted that.  380MB is both read and write (I
>> confirmed this with a developer).
>>
>> We do need the NFS stack, as that's how all the code and various many
>> Instances work -- we have several "workers" that chop up video on the same
>> namespace.  It's not efficient, but that's how it has to be for now.
>>
>> Redundancy, in terms of the server?   We have RAIDED volumes if that's
>> what you're referring to.
>>
>> Here's a basic outline of the flow (as I understand it):
>>
>>
>> Video Capture Agent sends in large file of video (30gb +/-)
>>
>> Administrative host receives and writes to NFS
>>
>> A process copies this over to another point in the namespace
>>
>> Another Instance picks up the file, reads and starts processing and
>> writes (FFMPEG is involved)
>>
>>
>> Something like that -- I may not have all the steps, but essentially
>> there's a ton of I/O going on.   I know our code model is not efficient,
>> but it's complicated and can't just be changed (it's based on an open
>> source product and there's some code baggage).
>>
>> We looked into another product that allegedly scaled out using multiple
>> NFS heads with massive local cache (AWS instances) and sharing the same
>> space, but it was horrible and just didn't work for us.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/14/15 3:06 PM, Mathieu Chateau wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>  is it 380MB in read or write ? What level of redundancy do you need?
>> do you really need nfs stack or just a mount point (and so be able to use
>> native gluster protocol) ?
>>
>>  Gluster load is mostly put on clients, not server (clients do the sync
>> writes to all replica, and do the memory cache)
>>
>>
>>  Cordialement,
>> Mathieu CHATEAU
>> http://www.lotp.fr
>>
>> 2015-07-14 20:49 GMT+02:00 Forrest Aldrich < <forrie at gmail.com>
>> forrie at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> I'm exploring solutions to help us achieve high throughput and
>>> scalability within the AWS environment.   Specifically, I work in a
>>> department where we handle and produce video content that results in very
>>> large files (30GB etc) that must be written to NFS, chopped up and copied
>>> over on the same mount (there are some odd limits to the code we use, but
>>> that's outside the scope of this question).
>>>
>>> Currently, we're using a commercial vendor with AWS, with dedicated
>>> Direct Connect instances as the back end to our production.   We're
>>> maxing out at 350 to 380 MB/s which is not enough.  We expect our capacity
>>> will double or even triple when we bring on more classes or even other
>>> entities and we need to find a way to squeeze out as much I/O as we can.
>>>
>>> Our software model depends on NFS, there's no way around that presently.
>>>
>>> Since GlusterFS uses FUSE, I'm concerned about performance, which is a
>>> key issue.   Sounds like a STRIPE would be appropriate.
>>>
>>> My basic understanding of Gluster is the ability to include several
>>> "bricks" which could be multiples of either dedicated EBS volumes or even
>>> multiple instances of the above commercial vendor, served up via NFS
>>> namespace, which would be transparently a single namespace to client
>>> connections.   The I/O could be distributed in this manner.
>>>
>>> I wonder if someone here with more experience with the above might
>>> elaborate on whether GlusterFS could be used in the above scenario.
>>> Specifically, performance I/O.  We'd really like to gain upwards as much
>>> as possible, like 700 Mb/s and 1 GB/s and up if possible.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Gluster-users mailing list
>>> Gluster-users at gluster.org
>>> http://www.gluster.org/mailman/listinfo/gluster-users
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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