New ZFS rack build + Ubuntu server build

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dbrittain

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Feb 6, 2011
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Hello again. This is a two part post. Sorry for the wall of text to come...

After setting up a 72TB ZFS storage system I have recently filled all of the free space. I am looking to expand with another ZFS system of the same size I would like some recommendations for a HBA or raid card. After using a arc-1880 I have grown distasteful of controller cards for ZFS. Now that I have the options to build a new storage rack, I would like some suggestions for the hardware. Here is the build as of now:

Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTi-LN4F
CPUs: 2x E5620
RAM: 32GB ECC
Case: SuperMirco SC846TQ-R900

That is the base of the build. It will be populated by 24 3TB HDs (probably Seagates unless one can recommend a better price/quality/3TB ratio). What would be the best recommend HBA or controller card for this scenario? I am looking into the LSI SAS 9201-16i (would I need a expander?)

Also, should I move from Solaris + napp-it to an opensource OS? Any suggestions?

EDIT: ZFS+ESXi will be used in place of the Ubuntu build.
Finally I am also building an identical system but it needs to run Linux, and most likely Ubuntu because of some software that needs implementation. What cards type of controller cards are recommended for Linux? What about the storage setup (since ZFS is not stable with Linux)?

Thanks.
 
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OpenIndiana is open source, AFAIK, and it works fine with napp-it, so no I wouldn't switch. Also, seems kind of strange to build a second storage server using linux because of 'some software that needs implementation'. Is said software storage related? If so, what? If not, couldn't you just virtualize that and not worry about it? Seems like a nightmare to have 3 different storage boxes, two of which would be identical HW but different software (and one zfs vs one non-zfs).
 
True. It is chaotic. I guess I can setup ESXi to run Ubuntu. The problem is the software is linux only and performance intensive and will be accessed by multiple users (~10).I am no expert of virtualization with this type of system.
 
If you have a decent ESXi host the virtualization overhead is basically insignificant.
 
Fair enough. I will build two identical systems. Is the LSI SAS 9201-16i + SAS expander the best option then?
 
have you considered expanding current zfs server?
extra HBA + more ram for server and supermicros 847 jbod for drives should do the trick nicely
 
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