[Gluster-users] hardware raid controller

[Larry Bates]

>Hello!
>
>Im trying to install my first Gluster Storage Platform server.
>
>It has a Jetway JNF99FL-525-LF motherboard with an internal raid
>controller (based on a Intel ICH9R chipset) which has 4x 1tb drives for
>data that i would like to run in a RAID5 configuration
>
>It seems Gluster doesnt support the raid controller.. Because i still see
>the 4 disks as 'servers' in the WebUI.
>
>Any ideas?!
>
>Kind Regards,
>
>Derk

Three suggestions in descending order of preference:

1) Use distribute/replicate in Gluster to provide a RAID-like setup.  IMHO using
Gluster doesn't make a lot of sense unless you have 2+ servers and if you do you
can use distribute/replicate to create volumes that act like mirrored (via
replicate) and striped (via distribute).  This will maximize the available disk
space because you aren't losing drives to parity and any drive failures are
fixed by replacing the drive and use Gluster's heal.

2) Use mdadm to create RAID out of JBOD, then use that to create your brick.

3) Purchase a hardware RAID controller (3Ware/LSI).  This the highest performing
solution, but also the most expensive.

Larry Bates
vitalEsafe, Inc.