Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:41 pm
Peekay,
I know this is probably not your intention, but you've made me feel really stupid and ignorant, and that's after a whole day of it...
1) Starwind 4.2? When did this arrive? Last time I downloaded, it was at 4.1!! Note to Robert & other starwind people: Please could you add a sticky thread where you simply post the current release notes? That way I can subscribe to the thread or make it a bookmark or something to keep up to date!
2) File System Buffering!! If this is back, it's a major thing. A while back it was removed, but the option was left in the ui. If I remember rightly, it was removed because there had been a few BAD issues with Windows cacheing (as in does bad things to your data), and Starwind decided it would be better to write their own cacheing code. If this has now been done, or if WIndows cacheing is now deemed safe again, then it's a major win, as being able to use system RAM as a read/write cache (providing you have a UPS of course) is going to improve your performance incredibly (especially if you have 10GbE to match!). I run a RAID controller with 4GB cache because of the performance benefits, and I know I could definitely use the massive amounts of RAM now possible on DDR3 equipped motherboards (some can handle 192GB!!)
Now yes, I feel stupid for not noticing this, but still, really happy if true... now I just need you to say that HA is done and I will open a bottle of wine to celebrate!
Risks: RAM is volatile. If your server crashes, for whatever reason, you lose the data that's in the cache but not yet on the disk. So, you need some kind of UPS (don't just rely on your datacentre's UPS, and definitely don't use a chassis that doesn't have redundant power supplies), you need a really reliable hardware set up (ECC RAM, and don't even think about thinking about overclocking), and you absolutely mustn't run anything that hasn't been rigourously tested. Don't plug in any USB devices, keep the box patched and firewalled, and make sure that all the drivers are totally reliable. Oh and don't use non-enterprise disks in your raids. I've seen RAID cards crash the entire box (which should never happen, but does) because they can't handle a drive with buggy firmware. If you trust everything, and cache is reliable, then with Starwind and lots of RAM, you can build the fastest iSCSI target that money can buy.
cheers,
Aitor