Xen and Raidframe

On Sat, Nov 04, 2006 at 08:23:01AM -0500, Steven M. Bellovin
wrote:
> I'm going to be setting up a new server to run several
Xen machines.  I
> plan to have two drives and use (software) RAID for
reliability.  I'm
> curious how other people are doing this.
> 
> One apparent option, for the production DOMUs, is to
have matching
> partitions on each hard drive, and have the DOMUs do
RAID themselves.  A
> second is to use a large DOM0 partition, with RAID, and
assign a DOMu a
> file in that partition.  This strikes me as slower, but
adequate for
> light-load and experimental servers.
> 
> Of course, the real question is whether either or both
options actually
> work.

Both should work, but I've not tested raidframe in a domU
recently.
Using RAID in dom0 is probably the best option; also using
file-backed vbd
for domUs have only a small impact on performances, and is
much easier to
deal with. I only use this on production systems.

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyerantioche.eu.org>
     NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la
difference
--

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 21:15:58 +0100, Manuel Bouyer
<bouyerantioche.eu.org>
wrote:

> 
> Both should work, but I've not tested raidframe in a
domU recently.
> Using RAID in dom0 is probably the best option; also
using file-backed vbd
> for domUs have only a small impact on performances, and
is much easier to
> deal with. I only use this on production systems.
> 
If the performance impact is that small, it certainly makes
my life easier.

		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbi
a.edu/~smb