OpenBSD CVS RAID Array Failing, Needs Replacement

Sam writes "The OpenBSD cvs server has a failing RAID array. Users of the projects on that array: OpenBSD, OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, OpenNTPD, and the upcoming OpenCVS are all invited to contribute towards the $12,500 cost of a suitably high-spec replacement. OpenBSD Journal article, and original request (thread)."

Comments

Re:$12,500... what is this, MAC hardware?

[Noksagt]

From TFA:

The price of a fully populated PowerVault 220S with 4 hour on-site warranty is
about $12500 USD including tax and shipping. Let me kick this off by donating
$250 to this cause. A person that shall not be named donated a PERC4/DC RAID
controller.

Donation Method from TFA

[Noksagt]

"If you want to help, paypal some money to slash at peereboom dot us, or you can use the OpenBSD ordering system. Be sure to mention its for the cvs machine."

Current Configuration & Need to Upgrade

[Noksagt]

From this post:

The current raid array is using 14 U160 drives in a dual raid5
configuration with a couple of hot spares. It is time to build up.
See, the actual cvs machine is just a p3/gig machine. While there are
lots of much faster build machines on the network, there has been no
reason to crank the processor on cvs. It is not cpu bound but
*strictly* IO bound. And the raid configuration has been working very
well to keep that IO load under control, well it has been kind of
working.

We support more architectures, which means more NFS load is being
generated. There are more developers, and that does affect things
because developers working fast do checkouts directly off cvs instead
of via mirrors. As well, the array is full (it is half 18GB drives
and half 36GB drives now due to failures after replacement). All of
them are U160 drives.

Now there appears that the raid backplane is developing some issues,
and at the same time, it is time for the "every three to four years"
replace some parts plan. It's what most IT shops do as well. The
drives are also getting a bit up there in age now. Perhaps that is
why I am starting to lose them more often.

But if we want more oomph, then it is time to go to U320. It is also
time to move towards another raid controller (already have it) which
we hope will have supported raid management soon.

Not just users of those projects

[Bastian]

If you use any OSS unix-like, or many OSS tools other than something with an Open* name, you are likely using at least a few things that have benefitted directly from the OpenBSD project. In an effort to keep OpenBSD secure, they contribute security patches to all sorts of software that runs on OpenBSD.

In particular, I'd encourage everyone who uses Linux to contribute.

Re:Not just users of those projects

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, OpenSSL, OpenGPS, OpenGFS, OpenOffice, OpenVB, OpenTTD, OpenVPN and OpenWFE just to name a few aren't actually associated with OpenBSD or even BSD licensed. In truth, most Open* things are under the GPL and done by other people. The good OpenBSD stuff is pf, OpenSSH, OpenBGP, OpenNTP, OpenCVS and OpenBSD itself.

Re:Expensive

[0xdeaddead]

Wow I need to frame that quote some where Dell's support is TERRIBLE. Bottom line here is the scoop. If you want to buy servers on the cheap buy EXTRA ones. the 4 hour support thing is a sham. Every time Ive had to call them on it, they have had to fly people & equipment, or just make up the damedest lies on why they cannot deliver equipment in 48 hours (on the 4 hour support contract none the less).

The last time they got me (6 days ago) we lost 1 terrabyte of their 'nas' storage... The joke was the 1st 24 hour delay on the 4 hour response was the lack of 250Gig IDE DISKS.....

Then they send out the Unisys guy to get the box to boot, because it just crashes, and lo-and behold, he cant get it to work either.

Now its going to be 12 DAYS to fix the box, and they have no spares. Nice 4 hour response guys!

After 48 hours of this outage I managed to beat them into shipping a 6600 with 1.2Tb of space so I can restore peoples home directories & profiles so they can login again.. wow thanks.

Bottom line is that they suck, and you get what you pay for. Its probably better to buy Compaq/HP on ebay & re-warentee it.

Re:Expensive

[OrangeSpyderMan]

I agree. At one point Dell sold the company I work for some servers that would be clustered and hooked up to SAN's the world over. They sold us "gold" maintenance, knowing fine well where each and every cluster would be located, because we told them, and they even factored that in to the overall quote. This isn't some little deal for a couple of tens of thousands of dollars, this is a 80,000+ users worldwide, who would all be moving from HP desktops and servers to Dell, for the Wintel stuff. Now guess what nearly blew the deal? One of the locations that was destined to receive a Dell cluster was not supported for 2-3 days a week because their support engineer organised deep-dea fishing trips!!! He was the Dell engineer, and they came within a hair's breadth of blowing this as they furiously scrambled for engineer cover in $LOCATION. I wouldn't give Dell ANY money for service over their default baseline, as they may know how to ship boxes, they don't know jack shit about service.

Re:Apple???

[Triumph The Insult C]

that Apple equipment was bought by Theo using OpenBSD funds. Apple didn't donate anything, nor have they ever

here's what theo has to say about that exact Apple equipment

It is done.

[Nimrangul]

The money has been raised, the purchase shall soon be made. The link is here and you will note that the only companies that put in any money are smaller ones and the rest of the money has come from individuals.

Money's in

[andkaha]

Aparantly, the money has now been collected: message here

Also, it was hard to get money from companies, and almost everything seems to have come from caring individuals: message here