[Users] general (totally noob) questions...

[Itamar Heim]

On 09/22/2012 08:00 AM, Michael Hauber wrote:
> While I am not completely new to running instances in KVM/Qemu, I am a total
> noob when it comes to clustering.
>
> While I realize that not all of these questions pertain specifically to the
> oVirt project, I would much rather get input from people that have experience
> in this environment.
>
> I am in the process of designing my next server farm and would like to know
> some basics that I can't seem to find the answers to via google search.
>
>
> Background:
>
> I have a server farm setup for a large family.  It consists of 9 servers
> (minimal-to-medium loads for the most part, but they are in poor condition
> physically).  My hopes are to run this same setup virtually in a 3-node
> cluster.  I can run the entire farm in a virtual environment on a host with a
> dual, quad-core box with 64gig RAM.  That said, I know that each of these
> nodes will be capable of handling the entire load by itself if absolutely
> necessary.
>
> For disk space, my hopes are to use two drive arrays (10 configuration?) which
> I can build (up and out) from without having too much trouble.
>
> Everything will be fiber, including drops to the computers and televisions.
> Copper will exist as well for things like POE, printers, etc. (but not in
> scope)
>
>
> Questions:
>
> 1.  As I understand it, a N-to-N configuration means that there will be load
> balancing between the nodes as well as failover.  Is the load balancing
> something that is manual (I have to monitor/balance the load manually, or is
> it done automatically?)

ovirt has load balancing based on cpu load for either power saving or 
even distribution.
more types and custom scheduling are coming.

>
> 2.  If it is done automatically, how do the loads get split up?  Is the
> virtual machine itself the unit of load that transfers from one node to
> another or does it go so far as balancing services running inside those
> virtual machines?

VM is the unit of load.

>
> 3.  For the fail-over, is it seemless in the sense that the user's connections
> don't get reset or is there a short period of down-time before the service is
> available again?  While this isn't a big issue for me, it is something that
> I've been wondering about.

live migration is seamless.
failover is not, since the VM/host failed. engine needs to detect it, 
give some grace time, then start the VM on another host.


>
> 4.  Fibre channel or FCOE?  (I've spent entire evenings trying to get a
> straight answer through google searches, but there seem to be way too many
> agendas).  Being that one of the virtual servers will be a media server for
> the televisions (new addition), my worry is lag-time (I would like to serve at
> least 5 televisions without lag-time).  The array will also support things
> like file server, space for about 2-dozen www (family pages (lots of
> pictures)), space for mail, space for backups (rSync,Amanda), ISO boots, etc.

I am obviously out of my element here for what i use for my family :)
why FC and not Ethernet?

>
> I have the logical and physical topology drawn up for the most part, but until
> I understand a bit more, I'm scared _less about dropping any money into the
> project because I've neither seen a setup like this in action, and what I find
> online seems a bit vague in the way of details (dumbed-down enough for the
> likes of me to know if the hardware I'm buying is necessary and/or sufficient to
> achieve my goals).
>
> Any and all pointers, suggestions, patience, etc. would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> mchauber
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Users mailing list
> Users at ovirt.org
> http://lists.ovirt.org/mailman/listinfo/users
>