Re: general hardware advice

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 11:16 AM, Linos <info(at)linos(dot)es> wrote:
> I am searching what would be the best hardware combination to a new server i
> have to install, the new server will have a Postgresql 9.0 with a database
> of about 10gb, the database part it is not the problem for me, in this size
> almost, the part where i am a bit lost is that i have to share from the same
> server about 20TB of data with samba or ISCSI (i have to test both ways to
> share when i have the hardware) because this is to be the file-server of 8
> Avid video workstations.
>
> I am pretty sure that the Postgresql should be installed in a raid10
> configuration wigh pg_xlog in a different physical volume, i know too that
> the most important things to Postgresql are memory and disks, i will get a
> raid card with BBU or flash cache to be safe with write caching.

I'd put all of pgsql on a different card than the file share.

> About the file-server part the files we are going to move are in the range
> of 1gb~4gb in mostly a sequential access nature for what i have read of how
> avid works, so i think the best would be a raid 6 here, but i am not sure
> what hardware to buy because i have not stored never this quantity of
> storage, i have read in this mailing list other times about external
> enclosure boxes to attach storage and i have read raid cards recommendations
> before, lsi, 3ware or areca seems safe bets but i don't know how to put all
> the pieces together.

If the data on this is considered disposable, then you could look at
RAID-0 for the fastest performance. Even with SW RAID0 you'd get
incredible throughput with a few disks.

> I am studying too the possibility of use an OCZ Vertex 2 Pro with Flashcache
> or Bcache to use it like a second level filesystem cache, any comments on
> that please?

My coworkers RAVE over ZFS solaris with flash drives for cache and
spinning drives for mass storage.