[BBLISA] 10+ TB RAID experiences?

[Scott Ehrlich]

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007, Arthur Gaer wrote:

> Let me add my own strong second to Tony's NetApp recommendation, for pretty 
> much all the reasons Tony listed.
>
> My favorite pieces of server-ish equipment ever.  Incredibly reliable, 
> excellent tech support, relatively easy to configure.  Once configured the 
> way you need it just works forever with practically no SysAdmin intervention 
> needed, so you can spend your limited time dealing with more interesting 
> topics than continuously reliable file storage.
>
> Snapshots are definitely a huge win--I've only ever had to retrieve files 
> from tape three times in the seven years I've had NetApps.  Every other time 
> someone lost a file or needed an earlier version it was already sitting on 
> the NetApp in a snapshot directory, available for the user's own retrieval.
>
> Arthur Gaer
> gaer at math.harvard.edu
>
> Senior Systems Manager, Department of Mathematics
> Harvard University, 617-495-1610, FAX: 617-495-5132

Having previous experience with netapps and snapshots as well, I can also 
attest to their magic.

Other than Netapp, what other company supports it?   Otherwise, how 
difficult to implmenet within RHEL 5 Server on the RAID??

Thanks.

Scott

>
>
> On Aug 22, 2007, at 10:07 AM, Rudie, Tony wrote:
>
>> We love NetApp.  Some of what we love might not interest you:  HA 
>> clustering and remote replication.  Other stuff probably does:  simple 
>> administration and maintenance, very knowledgeable tech support.  And I'll 
>> tell you, having snapshots for user homedirs is a HUGE win.  We almost 
>> never have to restore user files for them.  They go get them themselves, 
>> from the snapshots.
>> 
>> A NetApp would allow you to do NFS or CIFS export directly from the NetApp 
>> box, and also do iSCSI or FC attach for the big server for database stuff. 
>> Might be a good fit.
>> 
>> 
>> - Tony Rudié