Thread: SAN Design Feedback

i looking accomplish task of building budget san. first use archive/backup solution, in time can stabilize , tune configuration used more important / critical tasks.

current working design follows netapp setup filer "heads" , disk "shelves". in reality, each separate servers specific tasks.

disk shelves 12-16 sata hotswap servers loaded 1.5tb drives. want make these iscsi targets. still debating whether hardware/software raid @ level or export each disk individually.

filer head map these iscsi targets via iscsi initiator , aggregate these in fault tolerant way present combined storage can served via number of protocols (nfs *nix boxes, cifs windows, etc).

need make filer heads redundant / highly available. if 1 fails, other takes on (eventually needs seamless hosts, ie. don't have remount share). disk shelves redundant in fact there sense of raid applied across them.

goal able add shelves , aggregate storage needed. zfs (available freenas) intriguing in regard.

evaluating openfiler , freenas. have thoughts, opinions, or comments on accomplishing this? realize it's possible set manually using linux or bsd on each, either openfiler or freenas make extremely easy initial setup , ongoing support (even windows admins).

thanks.

although zfs cool, wouldn't ever use because can't add disks existing array. you'd have append new array onto existing on. stinks if ever plan on expanding disk count.

use glusterfs or drdb/heartbeat setup fault tolerant system. sounds me want build budget nas more san. if that's case openfiler or freenas both work fine. i've tried both , prefer openfiler's more polished gui. being said, roll own storage.

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