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University Chooses Apple RAID for Linux Cluster

Posted by Hemos on from the mucho-storage dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A Linux World article describes how Swinburne University chose Apple's Xserve RAID to add storage to it's Dell linux cluster, as it was the cheapest solution. Apple was sceptical about its RAID system working with Linux, but the system was up and running in 15 minutes."

4 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Compression - WOW! wait, I mean HOW? by seigniory · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "According to Bailes, the centre records 13TB of data per day, which gets processed in real time down to 30GB and then compressed further to 3KB."

    OK, can someone to explain to me that either yes, there is a lot of redundant data that can have crazy-good compression rates, or that no, this quote is wrong...

    1. Re:Compression - WOW! wait, I mean HOW? by khb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A long time ago, in a job far, far away, I had to deal with some radio astronomy data.

      The raw data was pretty much noise (quasar output).There were two data streams, from opposite sides of the earth, listening to the same noise source)

      The data (after extraction) was very, very small. I can't recall if it would have been on the order of Tb to Kb but it might well have been. We didn't have that much storage, so we had to compute (using custom hardware) in near real time.

      With appropriate temporary storage, much simpler (and probably more accurate) computational solutions are practical.

      It's possible they mean reduced not compressed (to use appropriate buzz words). Data reduction can be quite steep (e.g. count the number of LGM found in the current sample. Typically all your data reduces to 0 ;>).

  2. Um, well "Duh!". by DAQ42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been booting my Linux boxes from my XServe RAID for months now. It's just a fibre array. And the XRAID Admin program is a straight Java applications so you can run it on any platform that supports Sun Java 1.4.1.

    Go figure.

    It's not rocket science. These devices have been engineered using standards of the industry.

    Doh!

    --
    Don't Ask Questions. I don't know the answers and even if I did I wouldn't tell you.
  3. Apple Australia SE told us... by icekey21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    During the conference held couple weeks back at Melbourne Uni, the guy from Apple Australia explained to us as to why Swinburne TAFE decided to use the XRAIDS. As it's the only one that supports IDE (He went on to say that the whole reason why RAID is there for is to reduce the costs, yet others use the more expensive SCSI drives) it was the cheapest way to transfer the data from Parkes to Hawthorn. They basically get a van, pack the HDs onto it once the data is collected, and drive back to Melbourne, which is still cheaper and faster then transferring all the data through existing network channels. The ultmiate connectionless network =)