Re: PG over NFS tips

On Thu, 2004-08-05 at 07:37, Tom Lane wrote:

> No --- the issues are not with Postgres per se but with the reliability
> of your NFS setup. On top of the not-infinite reliability of disk drive
> hardware you now have to stack risk of failure of the NAS machine itself,
> network problems, and misconfiguration problems (eg, ill-chosen mount
> options).

All too well understood - although not by the higher-ups.

> The people who run Oracle over NFS successfully have usually paid top
> dollar for quality NAS hardware and a network run by people who know
> what they're doing. Put PG into that same environment and it will work
> just as well. But put PG on a lesser-grade setup, run by not quite such
> competent admins, and you're in for trouble.

This will be with an EMC Celerra - so it's at least top dollar. The jury
is still out on quality. :)

I was hoping to cable the machines directly to the NAS, but despite
promises to the contrary, on arrival it lacks enough ports for redundant
crossover connections.

I'm now planning on using the Linux bonding ethernet driver and
etherchannels for redundancy - redundant ethernet cards, links,
switches, and even NAS heads in the filer. I'm not sure how to setup an
NFS network any better, but I welcome any suggestions!

FWIW, I'm being forced to do this because EMC has not (so far) validated
using Opterons in 64bit mode attached to a Clariion SAN. Consider this a
big heads-up for anyone else out there thinking about using EMC +
Opteron.