[Pvfs2-users] SAN Configuration Questions

[Alan Jones]

Hi Robert,

This brought a question to my mind - does pvfs tend to use a lot of
small files (suggesting to go with reiser 3) or fairly large files on
average (xfs) ? I imagine the choice of file system could impact
performance.

Cheers,

Alan.

On 12/5/06, Robert Latham <robl at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 05, 2006 at 09:52:43AM -0600, Cliff Kirby wrote:
> > I have the PVFS server software and Kernel modules compiled and loaded on
> > the four servers and each one sees the 2 Xraid LUNs as /dev/sdb and
> > /dev/sdc.  Can I setup the PVFS I/O servers to perform any I/O operations
> > directly to the devices over the SAN and not the GigE network?
>
> > Do I have to create a PVFS file system on the SAN device or can I use native
> > Linux partitioning?
>
> Do note that there's no file system driver for OSX clients yet.  You
> will have better luck if you want to use MPI-IO and the userspace pvfs
> utlities.
>
> PVFS will definitely play well with the SAN, but you might have to
> re-think your toplogy a bit.  Start with the SAN file system.  Format
> it however you like.  There's no 'mkfs.pvfs' for example: PVFS sits on
> top of an existing linux file system.  You'll need linux servers to
> attach to the SAN.  It's those linux servers your clients will talk
> to.
>
> I don't know of too many people using Xsans and PVFS: I fully expect
> it to work, but we may not be able to offer much in the way of tuning
> or configuration hints.  However, feel free to carry out a discussion
> of those aspects on this list, as the resulting conversation should
> prove quite helpful for anybody following in your footsteps.
>
> Have fun
> ==rob
>
> --
> Rob Latham
> Mathematics and Computer Science Division    A215 0178 EA2D B059 8CDF
> Argonne National Lab, IL USA                 B29D F333 664A 4280 315B
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