Open-E - Data Storage Software - Anybody use it?

[glennda]

Just a quick scout really to see if anybody here uses the software provided by Open-E in the education sector? or anybody on here not in education but using it?

 

I'm currently doing there Training for the Activ-Activ Configuration to become an Open-E Certified Engineer which provides fault tolerance and full host redundancy at a huge fraction of the cost that is normally associted with these kind of configurations. Including support for 10GBE/FC along with the ability to act as an NAS device.

[glennda]

*BUMP* for those that missed yesterday!

[DMcCoy]

Tried it once, didn't like it. Spelling mistakes in the critical error messages didn't inspire confidence!

[Willott]

Used the free version a while back for something, did the job, but weren't asking much of it. Didn't really feel comfortable with the run from USB stick idea (you only find you've got an issue with your usb stick if you need to reboot for whatever reason) and lack of mirroring on boot device.

[glennda]

Used the free version a while back for something, did the job, but weren't asking much of it. Didn't really feel comfortable with the run from USB stick idea (you only find you've got an issue with your usb stick if you need to reboot for whatever reason) and lack of mirroring on boot device.

 

Yes we have been discussing this! It is recommended to run from SATA DOM's drive rather then USB drives.

 

I've just setup an iscsi active active cluster using 2 nodes including replication in 10 mins

 

just gotta pass my exam in an hour! It does seem very powerful and the guys here from Broadberry who custom make servers to run the OS which comparable with SANs are stupidly cheap!

[pcstru]

We are currently looking at an active-active configuration built around Open-E. Seems to do what we want at a price that is sustainable.

[Willott]

If only they used ZFS instead of fakeraid/hardware raid, I'd take a look. Currently, ZFS seems to take the biscuit - I'll stick with my OI based SAN for now, will start looking at active-passive clustering.

 

Does Open-E use a clustered filesystem (if so what)? Does it share storage with 2 heads, or it is a dual head, dual storage setup (ie do you have to replicate storage in much the same way as Microsoft DFS or can you share SAS level)?

[glennda]

If only they used ZFS instead of fakeraid/hardware raid, I'd take a look. Currently, ZFS seems to take the biscuit - I'll stick with my OI based SAN for now, will start looking at active-passive clustering.

 

Does Open-E use a clustered filesystem (if so what)? Does it share storage with 2 heads, or it is a dual head, dual storage setup (ie do you have to replicate storage in much the same way as Microsoft DFS or can you share SAS level)?

 

Open-E uses XFS. In terms of the file system for clustering it users DRDB so it replicates data between two physical nodes. Setup your nodes with either a direct connection between them for Heartbeat and volume replication.

 

Its explained a bit more in this PDF

 

http://documents.open-e.com/Failover_supported_by_Open-E_software.pdf

[glennda]

We are currently looking at an active-active configuration built around Open-E. Seems to do what we want at a price that is sustainable.

 

What hardware you looking at?

[pcstru]

Currently 2 * Dell R720's with 15K SAS drives. I think that might need to change as it's not fulfilling our space requirements over the next two years (growth from 8TB).

[glennda]

Currently 2 * Dell R720's with 15K SAS drives. I think that might need to change as it's not fulfilling our space requirements over the next two years (growth from 8TB).

 

Take a look the broadberry kit - from speaking with the guys that arrange here they seem very on the ball with open-e. I'm actually looking to get a smalldevice (with enough slots Gordon expansion) for one of my smaller expanding clients. For example you could get a 24 or 36 bay chassis fill half now and expand into it with extra license and disks in the future.

[pcstru]

I'll have a look thanks. We will though be largely in the hands of the supplier on this one - even my penny pinching Scottish nature sees a good support relationship as critical on this particular piece of infrastructure.

[glennda]

I'll have a look thanks. We will though be largely in the hands of the supplier on this one - even my penny pinching Scottish nature sees a good support relationship as critical on this particular piece of infrastructure.

 

That is fair enough - we are just getting one specced up now for a client so depending on when you are looking to purchase I will give you some feedback on them.

 

Plus I passed the exam so if you have any problems with setup let me know and I'll try and help!

[pcstru]

Thanks for the offer of help. Congratulations on the exam pass!

 

What I am potentially interested in is a smaller active/passive setup with SSD's in the active side. The Building an SSD file server thread has some good information and it's a route I've been wanting to look at for a while (but our high IOP loads are critical and need good protection against any data loss). I'm probably just dreaming though!

[glennda]

Thanks for the offer of help. Congratulations on the exam pass!

 

What I am potentially interested in is a smaller active/passive setup with SSD's in the active side. The Building an SSD file server thread has some good information and it's a route I've been wanting to look at for a while (but our high IOP loads are critical and need good protection against any data loss). I'm probably just dreaming though!

 

It is possible and not stupidly expensive (extra 800/1k) - you could always use SSD caching which will give you High IOP's but use SAS for larger disks.

 

Active Passive is also really simple to setup once you have worked out Active-Active (or Active-Active is easy to work out once you have active-passive sorted).

[Willott]

Congrats on the exam pass @glennda

 

Does Open-E do SSD caching on both read and write? Can you use RAM as cache as well (ie if you were to shove 300GB RAM in the box could it use this as read cache)?

[glennda]

Congrats on the exam pass @glennda

 

Does Open-E do SSD caching on both read and write? Can you use RAM as cache as well (ie if you were to shove 300GB RAM in the box could it use this as read cache)?

 

I know it defiantly does the write caching I will need to find out about the Read caching. Not sure on the RAM but it is probably cheaper to stick an SSD Caching Kit (if it supports the read cache) in then more RAM. The recommendation for Ram is 1GB per 1TB of storage. I know that on NAS/NFS Volumes you can set them up as WORM volumes.

 

Let me pop the question through to somebody who knows.

[glennda]

Open-E Also do educational discounts Educational Program | Open-E In which they will double the storage license. So buy 4TB license get 8TB etc

[glennda]

Congrats on the exam pass @glennda

 

Does Open-E do SSD caching on both read and write? Can you use RAM as cache as well (ie if you were to shove 300GB RAM in the box could it use this as read cache)?

 

Open-e supports read caching but not in the same way as ZFS - a little bit more info here Memory utlization