[Gluster-users] Please advise for our file server cluster

[Ben Turner]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gao" <gao at pztop.com>
> To: gluster-users at gluster.org
> Sent: Monday, June 8, 2015 12:58:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [Gluster-users] Please advise for our file server cluster
> 
> On 15-06-05 04:30 PM, Gao wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > We are a small business and now we are planning to build a new file
> > server system. I did some research and I decide to use GlusterFS as
> > the cluster system to build a 2-node system. Our goals are trying to
> > minimize the downtime and to avoid single point of failure. Meanwhile,
> > I need keep an eye on the budget.
> >
> > In our office we have 20+ computers running Ubuntu. Few(6) machines
> > use Windows 8. We use a SAMBA server to take care file sharing.

What file sizes / access patterns are you planning on using?  Smallfile and stat / metadata operations on Windows / Samba will be much slower than using glusterfs or NFS mounts.  Be sure to clearly identify your performance requirements before you go to size your HW.

> >
> > I did some research and here are some main components I selected for
> > the system:
> > M/B: Asus P9D-E/4L (It has 6 SATA ports so I can use softRAID5 for
> > data storage. 4 NIC ports so I can do link aggregation)
> > CPU: XEON E3-1220v3 3.1GHz (is this over kill? the MB also support i3
> > though.)
> > Memory: 4x8GB ECC DDR3
> > SSD: 120 GB for OS
> > Hard Drive: 4 (or 5) 3TB 7200RPM drive to form soft RAID5
> > 10GBe card: Intel X540-T1

Seems reasonable.  I would expect 40-60 MB / sec writes and 80-100 MB / sec reads over gigabit with sequential workloads.  Over 10G I would expect ~200-400 MB / sec for sequential reads and writes.  Glusterfs and NFS mounts will perform better but it sounds like you need samba for your windows hosts.

> >
> > About the hardware I am not confident. One thing is the 10GBe card. Is
> > it sufficient? I chose this because it's less expensive. But I don't
> > want it drag the system down once I build them. Also, if I only need 2
> > nodes, can I just use CAT6 cable to link them together? or I have to
> > use a 10GBe switch?

It all depends on your performance requirements.  You will need a 10G switch if you want the clients to access the servers over 10G.  If you don't need more than 120 MB / sec you can use gigabit, but if you need more then you will have to goto the 10G NICs.  


> >
> > Could someone give me some advice?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Gao
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Any help? Please.
> 
> --
> 
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