Why Are You NOT Using FreeBSD ?

[Freddie Cash]

On Jun 1, 2012 8:27 PM, "Glen Barber" <gjb at freebsd.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jun 01, 2012 at 11:14:10PM -0400, David Magda wrote:
> > ZFS is for storing file systems on locally connected block devices.
> > Gluster is a network file system where data can be distributed over
> > many nodes.
> >
>
> Pardon my ignorance to not knowing what gluster is, but is this
> conceptually similar to HAST?

Similar in concept, but different layers in the storage stack.

HAST sits between the physical disks and the filesystem, replicating data
between two systems. So, disks -- HAST -- ZFS.

Glustre sits above the storage system, replicating data between systems.
So, disks -- ZFS (via Zvols) -- Glustre.

The primary difference is that HAST provides only a single master node that
all I/O goes through. The filesystem(s) above HAST cannot be mounted on
more than one host. I/O is limited to what the master can handle.

Glustre is distributed across hosts, so I/O is multiplied (to some extent),
and data is accessible across multiple hosts.