Hans van der Made <[email protected]> writes: [...]
> I don't know which components you've used, and if these parts work > fine in other people's systems, but your description does not breed > confidence in this particular card. Of course, there's also BIOS > settings, firmware, bus mastering problems, ... Can you tell us more > about your system, or did you do so already? I'm new here :) > >> Also seems like it requires a rather extensive knowledge and skill >> set to work with zfs. > > There are only two utilities, zpool and zfs, and both come with well > written manual pages. There's a ZFS Administration Guide on > docs.sun.com that describes many common tasks. It's not as easy as > an Apple product or a consumer level NAS server, but they won't > protect your data integrity, support efficient snapshotting, etc. On > the other hand, configuring Linux LVM or md software RAID is more > complicated in my experience, and so on. I don't know what your > frame of reference is, so I can't tell what you'd consider > "extensive". Let us know if we can help in any way. Warning warning... long winded post ahead! I should apologize for venting earlier... many of the troubles I've had have been of my own making. But: It's a little hard to follow when you say there are just two utilities , after mentioning 3 major areas where considerable knowledge is required. What you are really saying is there are two more. But in fact the 3 areas you listed could be supplemented with many more. The inards of the services setup alone is enough to make grown men cry. If you read many of the posts here you'll notice there is an unprecedented amount of just shear knowledge about all aspects of computing ... PLUS a really expert level of knowledge about the particulars of zfs floating around in these groups. Many posters have actual encyclopedic knowledge on a vast range of related topics. So there is plenty of really excellent help available here... That isn't just an accident. The OS osol requires more skill and knowledge to work with. Hence the groups are loaded with people who have booth. The fact that there is so much available on these lists is really fortunate since it will be sorely needed by a green horn to Solaris trying to learn how to use zfs. At best it is quite misleading to say there are `only two well documented utilities' you need to know about to master zfs. After all zfs can't do much of nothing without an OS. But enough on that. I'm using what would pass as junk hardware to many here. Its older hardware and cheapo cards... but I've had to use PCI sata cards because OSOL does not recognize my onboard sata controller. athlon64 2.2gh 3400+ - Aopen AK86-L mobo - (topped out at 3GB Ram) 4 500gb IDE drives on two IDE controllers 2 750gb sata II drives on adaptec 1205sa (Sil3112a chip) PCI sata controller. It's not really that terrible of hardware...considering its being used as a home lan NAS server. Not somewhere where dozens of peoples data is at risk. But I don't think its fair to say its `hardware dependant' as if its someone elses' problem. A really robust tool isn't so damned picky. It says something about the OS when it requires specific hardware to perform reasonably well. Of course all OS's require some specificity.. but Osol is pickier than most, or so it seems to me. About the funky old sata card... just try finding a PCI (only) sata controller that supports Sata II out of the box. I had quite a lot of trouble, having found only one suitable on the HCL. I'm not putting down the effort going into OSol or the design and utility of it. In fact it is some testimony to its utility and robustness that I haven't had even more problems. Because I will tell you in plain language... I'm a bit slow, I have always found it rough sledding ... linux, windows, osol. And have misused the OS in many ways by now. The fact that its still even running is probably some testimony that Osol has good Robustness. I'm a slow learner.. and invariably have a seriously hard time learning to use tools by reading man pages. And, as at least some man page authors will tell you, they mostly aren't really for teaching but are intended to be a reference to people who have some grasp of the basics well in hand. I hope I don't wear out my welcome on these groups before I get a fairly good start. So far I've gotten really first rate help. I do hope at some point to be able to contribute something. But for now that would have to be a study in how Osol fares in the hands of a rather inexpert user. _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
