Comments on: A completely (local) diskless datacenter with iSCSI http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2008/12/31/a-completely-local-diskless-datacenter-with-iscsi/ Blog O' Matty Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:31:44 +0000 hourly 1 By: mike http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2008/12/31/a-completely-local-diskless-datacenter-with-iscsi/comment-page-1/#comment-663274 mike Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:37:29 +0000 http://prefetch.net/blog/?p=957#comment-663274 Hey Hans Thats a good question. From experience, not really much I/O happens because of the O/S itself. 99% of the I/O occuring during normal operation is application driven, not really O/S driven. Not only that, but the file system cache is going to store much of the frequently accessed data. You do bring up a going point through. Where is that limit here? You would most defiantly want to separate your O/S iSCSI LUNs from application storage. If using iSCSI for everything, I would put the application data on a separate subnet, VLAN, etc. Hey Hans

Thats a good question. From experience, not really much I/O happens because of the O/S itself. 99% of the I/O occuring during normal operation is application driven, not really O/S driven.

Not only that, but the file system cache is going to store much of the frequently accessed data.

You do bring up a going point through. Where is that limit here?

You would most defiantly want to separate your O/S iSCSI LUNs from application storage. If using iSCSI for everything, I would put the application data on a separate subnet, VLAN, etc.

]]> By: Hans van der Made http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2008/12/31/a-completely-local-diskless-datacenter-with-iscsi/comment-page-1/#comment-663265 Hans van der Made Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:20:49 +0000 http://prefetch.net/blog/?p=957#comment-663265 This sounds great, but I am wondering how many zones could effectively be deployed in the suggested setup before the (highly random) I/O load would bring this nice Amber Road filer to its knees, even with the SSDs. It would all be dependant on load obviously, but still. Have you heard of real world setups like this yet? You may want to have a look at Ben Rockwood's keynote at the Open Storage Summit a few months ago: <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/storage/entry/open_storage_summit_ben_rockwood" rel="nofollow">Storage In The Cloud</a>. Around 27:25 he mentions centralized storage in virtualized environments, iSCSI enters at around 30:45. You may have seen it already, but I thought I'd mention it anyway :) Best, Hans NL This sounds great, but I am wondering how many zones could effectively be deployed in the suggested setup before the (highly random) I/O load would bring this nice Amber Road filer to its knees, even with the SSDs. It would all be dependant on load obviously, but still. Have you heard of real world setups like this yet?

You may want to have a look at Ben Rockwood’s keynote at the Open Storage Summit a few months ago: Storage In The Cloud. Around 27:25 he mentions centralized storage in virtualized environments, iSCSI enters at around 30:45. You may have seen it already, but I thought I’d mention it anyway :)

Best,

Hans
NL

]]> By: Matt Simmons http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2008/12/31/a-completely-local-diskless-datacenter-with-iscsi/comment-page-1/#comment-663052 Matt Simmons Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:24:52 +0000 http://prefetch.net/blog/?p=957#comment-663052 I think you're right, this very well could be the future of datacenters. I'd be surprised if, in a few years, some of the large co-location companies didn't start offering this as a service from their SANs (many already offer SAN backups). If you went with a colocation provider who offered this, you'd never have to worry about a failed disk again (assuming the colo company was up to snuff). I think you’re right, this very well could be the future of datacenters. I’d be surprised if, in a few years, some of the large co-location companies didn’t start offering this as a service from their SANs (many already offer SAN backups). If you went with a colocation provider who offered this, you’d never have to worry about a failed disk again (assuming the colo company was up to snuff).

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