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brainstorms:research_computing_storage_infrastructure_2012

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Research computing storage infrastructure, 2012

Brainstorming the current status and future needs of the ILRI research computing storage infrastructure.

Current situation

  • HPC (June, 2011)
    • ~6TB of usable disk space, ~2.5TB in use right now
  • boran (database + VM server, January, 2012)
    • ~1.5TB usable disk space, ~20GB in use right now

Timeline

  • May 18: Alan, Isaac, Etienne, and Mark meet to discuss projects and upcoming storage requirements. Notable:
    • very real possibility of a getting an Illumina MiSeq (shorter reads, but lots and lots of overlapping data)
    • Cassava genome project?
  • May 24: Alan and Isaac meet with NetApp storage representative ("GK" gkumawat@techno-associates.co.ke), facilitated by George Ogoti from ICT
    • Existing NetApp is expandable, there are various options we can explore
    • GK is going to get us a quote for the following infrastructure
      • RAID-DP (NetApp's version of RAID6, 2 disk failure)
      • Site redundancy (storage syncs nightly via fiber to ICRAF)
      • ILRI site will have two controllers for high availability
      • ICRAF site will have one controller (less critical storage)
      • Capacity 12TB or 24TB (with usable space roughly half of each figure)
  • June 13, 2012:
    • Got the quote back from GK at Techno Associates, two options:
      • 12TB dual configurations: $40,000
      • 24TB dual configurations: $48,000
    • We need to talk to Ian Moore to see what he thinks
    • It's possible we now use ICT's NetApp to provide 1-2TB for GIS server, then building some custom solution for the DMZ
  • June 14, 2012:
    • Brainstorming raw storage costs vs NetApp quote:
    • NetApp quote	1TB x 24 = 29000 USD
      NetApp quote	2TB x 24 = 39000 USD
      
      scan.co.uk	1TB Seagate	75 GBP x 24 = 1800 (~2800 USD)
      amazon.co.uk	1TB Seagate	65 GBP x 24 = 1560 (~2500 USD)
      
      scan.co.uk	2TB Seagate	70 GBP x 24 = 1680 (~2600 USD)
      amazon.co.uk	2TB Seagate	83 GBP x 24 = 1992 (~3100 USD)
      
      scan.co.uk	3TB Hitachi	130 GBP x 24 = 3120 (~4900 USD)
      amazon.co.uk	3TB Seagate	120 GBP x 24 = 2928 (~4600 USD)
  • June 18, 2012:
    • Had a meeting with Ian Moore and Isaac Kahugu about storage
      • He said he'd support us building our own, but gave us tips to talk to Tor at ICRAF (GIS, MySQL, Drobo), and to consider Dell Equalogic for storage
      • Another point was that we could possibly buy storage from KENET (to sync off site), or maybe colocate a box there
  • July 10, 2012:
    • GK from Techno Associates called again with a new offer for a single-site, single-controller NetApp solution:
      • He said he can give us 12TB raw for $9,000, or 24TB for $11,000 (one controller only, excludes pricing for replication licenses)
  • July 22, 2012:
  • July 23, 2012:
    • George Ogoti provided us with an iSCSI target on their NetApp so we can test configuration and performance.

Proposed NetApp architecture

Proposed architecture assuming we expand ICT's existing NetApp rack with extra controllers and storage.

Key points:

  • Raw storage is sliced in several chunks and shared appropriately
  • NetApp exports CIFS shares to corporate clients and servers (users authenticate with Active Directory credentials)
  • NetApp exports iSCSI block devices to Linux servers in order to allow them to manage their own storage/access/users directly in the OS

Alternatives

brainstorms/research_computing_storage_infrastructure_2012.1343111990.txt.gz · Last modified: 2012/07/24 06:39 by aorth