Simon Breden wrote: > OK, thanks Carl. So you think it would be a better idea, instead of > using an Infiniband HBA to directly connect the two machines, to in fact > directly connect the 2 machines via two 10Gbe NICs, and not using a > 10GbE switch -- like the old way of directly connecting two 10Mbps NICs > using a crossover cable?
That's what I suggest. > Is there a crossover cable for 10GbE or is it not needed these days? I > think I recall seeing even in the 1GbE switch I have here that it seems > to have auto-MDX/MDIX support, which I assume is relevant here. I expect that the NICs will do auto-sensing and you will not need a crossover cable, but I could be wrong. Carl > Thanks for the tip of avoiding the cost of an unnecessary expensive > 10GbE switch for this setup! > > Cheers, > Simon > > 2008/11/25 Carl Hensler <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> > > Simon, > > Since you propose to connect one DAS server to one editing station, > you can connect back-to-back without a switch. The switches are the > most expensive 10 GbE components. While I am a long-time IB > enthusiast, I think you will find 10 GbE the easiest way to get an > order of magnitude BW improvement with standard networking > interfaces. Somebody can tell you which 10 GbE NICs are supported > on Solaris and then you can shop for price. > > Carl > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [networking-discuss] Infiniband DAS: Solaris/ZFS over > Infiniband > Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:56:33 -0800 (PST) > From: Simon Breden <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> > To: [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > Don't know if this is the right place for this question, but here > goes. If not right place, where should I post it instead? > > I was wondering about the practicalities of building a DAS box > running Solaris with ZFS, attached to a video editing workstation > (Mac Pro) via an Infiniband adapter, as these seem about the fastest > forms of connection available (certainly a lot faster than gigabit > ethernet). I know 10GbE is around but I think it's not quite here > for the masses yet (perhaps I'm mistaken, but it's my impression). > > I was thinking of building my own Solaris box, chucking in something > like 8 x 1TB drives in a RAID-Z1 formation, and I was thinking that > with the Infiniband connection I should be able to get fast transfer > speeds between the boxes, so assuming ZFS was fast enough, this > should give a speedy video editing storage server setup (something > like this, but with ZFS: > http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/enhance/e8/) > > So my question really is does Infiniband work well on Solaris, and > if so, which is the preferred HBA to use? (most solid/well-supported > driver, I suppose) > > Does anyone see any show-stoppers preventing something like this > working or does it look doable? In fact are there any people who've > built a working setup like this that they have documented? > > I was thinking of something like the HighPoint RocketRaid 2322 HBA > (http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/rr2322.htm) running in JBOD mode > to keep ZFS happy. Oh dear, seems like it supports Mac OS X but not > Solaris :( > > Thanks, > Simon > -- > This message posted from opensolaris.org <http://opensolaris.org> > _______________________________________________ > networking-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > _______________________________________________ networking-discuss mailing list [email protected]
