Re: Postgres on NAS/NFS

Hello,

I have had the experience of running a database hosted on a dedicated
NFS share. I have not had any problems. I would rather have this
solution than having to use SAN, due to the flexibility I would get
plus the less overhead in management.

I recommend that you skim through a paper from Oracle/Netapp (from
2004, I think), where they talk a little bit about running a database
on NFS (I'm not recommending neither Oracle, nor Netapp). But I think
it's worth to mention it because it clarified a few things to me. In
this scenario, the conclusion I get is that performance gain in a SAN
does not payoff the management overhead you get. Specially in the
scenario you're describing, which does not seem to have a heavy usage.

Paying close attention to details to avoid any corruption issue in a
shared environment, I don't think it would be a problem going for NFS.

Regards,
~Frederiko Costa
Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikocosta

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Bryan Keller <bryanck(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> I am considering running a Postgres with the database hosted on a NAS via NFS. I have read a few things on the Web saying this is not recommended, as it will be slow and could potentially cause data corruption.
>
> My goal is to have the database on a shared filesystem so in case of server failure, I can start up a standby Postgres server and point it to the same database. I would rather not use a SAN as I have heard horror stories about managing them. Also they are extremely expensive. A DAS would be another option, but I'm not sure if a DAS can be connected to two servers for server failover purposes.
>
> Currently I am considering not using a shared filesystem and instead using replication between the two servers.
>
> I am wondering what solutions have others used for my active-passive Postgres failover scenario? Is a NAS still not a recommended approach? Will a DAS work? Or is replication the best approach?
>
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