[OmniOS-discuss] Z-RAID SSF, Raid over Z-Pools with Storage and Service Failover

[Guenther Alka]

I am currently working on "Z-RAID" with Storage and Service Failover:

"Z-RAID" is my name for a ZFS software raid but not over disks but over 
ZFS pools on a network.
"SSF" is Storage and NFS/SMB Service Failover in a as fast and as simple 
method as possible.
It should cover a complete server failure not only an SAS Jbod failure.

Current situation:
I have a storageserver with services and  a second backup system that 
syncs data
via rsync or ZFS replication.

If the primary system fails:
I can use the backup system to restore services but data is "old data 
from last backup"
and a NFS/SMB service failover must be initiated manually and lasts too 
long.

What I want to achieve:
I want to replace the async technology zfs send with a sync technology 
like mirror or raid-Z
to achieve that a pool on the primary system and the backup system is 
always in sync.
I do this currently with an iSCSI LUN from a whole pool on the primary 
and backup system
that I mirror on one of the systems, the Master node.

If the primary system fails, I want that the backup system (Slave) 
imports the pool with current
data state automatically or on demand and continue to offer services 
over a shared "alias ip".

I have read a lot of blogs over the last years about such a "cluster for 
the poor man" solution
but it never comes to common "best do it this way" with a free solution 
or a solution that use
pure ZFS/OS/Comstar technology.

I want a setup idea that is based on pure ZFS/Comstar/iSCSI, no extras 
like Pacemaker.

I have added my Z-RAID with SSF idea to napp-it 16.09 dev with support 
to create a Z-POOL,
manual move, automount or auto failover of a storage pool and NFS/SMB.

You can try my solution (you can request an access to my dev releases) 
or you can setup
manually. I am mainly interested in a feedback if this is the easiest 
solution that works
or if one should think of a different solution or care about a detail.

see my HowTo
http://www.napp-it.org/doc/downloads/z-raid.pdf


Gea