Dear All,
I have some general questions about whether, in my setup, it makes sense
to use OrangeFS and, if it makes sense, the recommended usage patterns.
Context
=======
We have a two node cluster (a Dell PowerEdge C6145). Each node has four
SAS HDs (600 GB each) per node (which I'll most likely use as a single
virtual disk using the RAID card). Each node also has four AMD Opteron
6276 sockets (16 cores per socket) and 256 GB RAM. The two nodes are
connected via Infiniband.
We will be using the cluster for bioinformatics/statistics computing,
including programs that use MPI and OpenMP, as well as giving access (via
web-based applications) to those same bioinfo/stats computing programs.
The main reason for considering OrangeFS is to provide a single
shared-disk file system for homes, application code, result storage,
scratch space, tmp files, etc.
Questions:
==========
1. I've seen it recommended that computing and storage nodes be different
(e.g., FAQ, 3.6). However, having different computing and storage nodes
would not make sense in my case. Anything I am missing?
2. Is it an overkill to use OrangeFS in my scenario?
3. If one of the nodes fails, and if I keep a backup of the data, can I
recover by just copying the shared disk backup, and mounting as a
regular, local, file system? (To allow this, I think I need to create
the backups from one of the clients, not just the data held by a single
server ---i.e., I would not use the approach in the FAQ, 9.1)
4. I understand things will be much cleaner if I use a dedicated partition
(in each machine) to be used as a brick, instead of a directory?
5. What other options might I consider? I am also thinking about GlusterFS
(and asking similar questions on their list). (Lustre definitely seems
to discourage client and OSS in same node).
Any other comments or suggestions for this setup are welcome.
Best,
R.
--
Ramon Diaz-Uriarte
Department of Biochemistry, Lab B-25
Facultad de Medicina
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Arzobispo Morcillo, 4
28029 Madrid
Spain
Phone: +34-91-497-2412
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
http://ligarto.org/rdiaz
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