Hello all, My first post on the list :-) I'm building a new personal server. The idea is to replace an old machine (currently running Linux) with something the will last the next five years or so.
The jobs for the machine will be: 1) Provide lots of storage, with an easy path to expand storage as needs increase and disks get cheaper 1b) Storage should be reliable. I don't want any more data loss, I want to be able to easily add more disks and replace smaller disks with bigger disks. 2) Do lots of media transcoding. 3) Run lots of virtual machines so I can experiment with HA under different OS-es without needing extra metal. I'm a Linux sysadmin with previous solaris experience. Because of requirement #1b I'm thinking of going for an Opensolaris system with ZFS for this machine. Because of #3 I'm tending towards multi-core, multi-processor. I've played around with opensolaris a bit, and am now ready to start. But I have a few questions still. The motherboard i tentatively picked is a Tyan board with place for two Opterons, and a LSI SAS controller. This one: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=636 So my first question: Will this work with Opensolaris? From what I'ev read so far it should, and LSI has Solaris drivers. The second question has to do with ZFS with SAS and SAT disks. If I get a hotplugable SAS backplane I know I can plug both SAS and SATA disks in them, as a SAS controller will connect with both. I also understand that in a raidz vdev it is relatively easy to replace a disk with a biger one. This would make it easy to just replace disks with bigger ones as they get cheaper, and so painlessly increas storage needs over time. (I've got about 100 DVD's still out there that I need to rip :-) What I'm not sure about is SAS + SATA disks on the same controller. Is this supported? Is replacing a SATA disk with a SAS disk supported on a raidz vdev? That's my second question. Thanks in advance. Krist -- krist.vanbesien at gmail.com krist at vanbesien.org Bremgarten b. Bern, Switzerland -- A: It reverses the normal flow of conversation. Q: What's wrong with top-posting? A: Top-posting. Q: What's the biggest scourge on plain text email discussions?
