[Gluster-users] ZFS + Linux + Glusterfs for a production ready 100+ TB NAS on cloud

[Joe Landman]

On 09/29/2011 12:38 PM, paul simpson wrote:
> been reading this thread - quite fascinating.
>
> zfsonlinux + gluster looks like an intriguing combination.  i'm
> interested in your findings to date; specifically would the zfs L2ARC
> (with SSDs) speed up underlying gluster operations?  it sounds like it
> could be a potent mix.

Just don't minimize the legal risk issue.  Its very hard for a vendor to 
ship/support this due to the potential risk.  Its arguably hard for a 
user to deploy zfs on linux due to the risk, unless they had a way to 
argue that they are not violating licensing (can't intermix GPL and CDDL 
and ship/support it) for commercial purposes.

Lots of folks can't claim the type of cover that a national lab can 
claim (researching storage models).  You have to decide if the risk is 
worth it.

If you were to do this, I'd suggest going the Illumos/OpenIndiana or BSD 
route.  Yeah, work still needs to be done to get Gluster to build there, 
but the licensing is on firmer ground (hard to claim that an "open 
source" license such as CDDL does not mean what it says).

Understand where you stand first.  Speak to a lawyer type first.  Make 
sure you won't have issues.

And do remember, that while Oracle and Netapp have (for the moment) 
de-escalated hostilities, Oracle did not provide indemnity to non-Oracle 
customers.  So Netapp (and others) *can* resume their actions.  A 
question was asked why not go after Nexenta versus others.  Simple. 
There are many others (e.g. more potential licensing/legal fees) as 
compared to a single Nexenta.  Its arguably less about rights as it is 
revenue from legal action.  But that stuff does happen ...

Oracle is probably the only one whom can ship ZFS anything safely.  And, 
I'd guess that they are perfectly happy with that situation.

>
> regards,
>
> -paul


-- 
Joseph Landman, Ph.D
Founder and CEO
Scalable Informatics Inc.
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