Worf

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Worf

Details

Type:	Dell PowerVault MD1000
Disks:	10x 450GB 15,000 RPM SAS disks in RAID 10
The Name:	The name of the disk array isn't really much of a big deal, as you can't actually log into it (or even connect to it to manage it). We chose "worf" because it was not only a Star Trek reference, but wasn't a Harry Potter reference!

Description

The disk array (now there's a phrase that sends shivers down the spines of older Redbrick members) was put on the Redbrick grant application for 2009 so that we could finally get away from using the consumer-grade disks connected to the consumer-grade RAID controller inside Minerva (it really shouldn't take 15 seconds to ls my home directory!). We were granted money for a far smaller MD3000, but while on the phone with the wonderful sales staff (hah) at Dell, we decided on an MD1000 which would not only be slightly cheaper, but much bigger and easier to manage. It was ordered after much arguing with them about payment in December 2009 and arrived on the 20th of January 2010.

It connects via a big thick SAS cable, which plugs into a Dell PERC 6/E controller with a battery backup unit, and 512MB of RAM. The RAM is on the controller, sitting in the host server, not in the array itself. The controller does all the work - the array is essentially just a big, rackmounted box of disks.

It was connected in February 2010 to Minerva and took over the storage of /storage, which holds member home directories and webspace.