What's the lowest power consumption system I can build for a GlusterFS test?
November 4, 2010 10:35 AM Subscribe
I need the cheapest, lowest possible power consumption solution for a GlusterFS test cluster. MeFi PC hardware experts, can you hope me?
I'm doing some experimentation with GlusterFS. I'd like to build 4 machines. However, I'd like them to run with as little power consumption as possible, and I'd like to do it from hardware I can buy over the interwebs.
I don't know much about power scaling and whatnot these days. What do I need to know to get the lowest power consumption possible out of consumer grade hardware? Obviously, I'll want to use low power drives... that's not a problem. What chips are best for my application? (atom? i3?) With a home system serving out NFS or CIFS, what sort of performance do I need? Obviously, price is also a huge consideration here.
Also: I realize that this isn't necessarily the smartest or cheapest way to get low power consumption, highly available storage, but I need to experiment with GlusterFS for my consulting biz and no one's volunteered to throw a bunch of money at me for the kit, so it's up to me to do it on my own.
I'm doing some experimentation with GlusterFS. I'd like to build 4 machines. However, I'd like them to run with as little power consumption as possible, and I'd like to do it from hardware I can buy over the interwebs.
I don't know much about power scaling and whatnot these days. What do I need to know to get the lowest power consumption possible out of consumer grade hardware? Obviously, I'll want to use low power drives... that's not a problem. What chips are best for my application? (atom? i3?) With a home system serving out NFS or CIFS, what sort of performance do I need? Obviously, price is also a huge consideration here.
Also: I realize that this isn't necessarily the smartest or cheapest way to get low power consumption, highly available storage, but I need to experiment with GlusterFS for my consulting biz and no one's volunteered to throw a bunch of money at me for the kit, so it's up to me to do it on my own.
Do these need to be physical machines? I setup a GlusterFS a long time ago (read: about a year). I just setup 3 virtual machines and watched them play with each other.
If they need to be physical machines, take a look at my previous question. That's probably the lowest end solution from a price / power perspective that you can get away with.
The biggest thing with a GlusterFS solution is the need for a strong network. You'll saturate a home switch long before you'll press against hardware limitations.
posted by geoff. at 11:02 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
If they need to be physical machines, take a look at my previous question. That's probably the lowest end solution from a price / power perspective that you can get away with.
The biggest thing with a GlusterFS solution is the need for a strong network. You'll saturate a home switch long before you'll press against hardware limitations.
posted by geoff. at 11:02 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm looking for ideas here, basically, hopefully based on past experience. They'd need to be physical machines.
posted by SpecialK at 1:31 PM on November 4, 2010
posted by SpecialK at 1:31 PM on November 4, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Just slinging bits around isn't processor-intensive and you're much more likely to be disk speed-bound than CPU-bound. So without having done the experimentation you're pursuing, I couldn't tell you what CPU's appropriate. But Silent PC Review just did a Silent Home Server Build Guide and there's high correspondence between quiet and low-power.
posted by Zed at 10:59 AM on November 4, 2010