StorageUnificationTool

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Contents

description

  • A easy-to-use graphical tool that can manage storage devices and pools, and file systems
  • Includes a wizard (like Roxio or Toast) that can start different applications depending on what is to be accomplished
  • Make it easy to create, manage, and back up very large data storage pools
  • Make it easy to export and secure data
  • Provide a framework for thinking about and documenting data management

use cases

Handles storage devices

  • system and device health
  • automatic and manual setting of I/O parameters
  • installation, configuration, transport setup
  • device error reporting and analysis

Handles storage pools

  • administers RAID volumes and LVs
  • set up hot remote pools
  • identify hot swap spare LUNs

Handles file systems

  • creating
  • mounting
  • tuning
  • resizing
  • deleting

Handles NFS administration

  • client: automated server discovery,
  • client: autofs configuration
  • server: automatic export of file systems

Handles data management

  • set up automated storage hierarchies
  • one-time or periodic data replication
  • one-time or periodic backup
  • restore and disaster recovery

other examples

  • star, cpio, rsync
  • Smit on AIX
  • zpool and zfs on Solaris

requirements

  • Need a good name for it
  • Must tie together the disparate, separately maintained, and undocumented masses of storage utilities that exist on Linux
  • And provide new tools that don't already exist
  • Emulates the nice model provided by zpool/zfs
  • Management
    • Do we want some kind of permanent storage management (disk/CF/optical/tape)? Device maintenance? Ways to drive smartctl, hdparm, or other testing?
    • Do we want some kind of storage pool management (manage LVs, manage pools [for fs's that understand them]?
    • Do we want some kind of file system management (create, check, remove, expand)? Managing /etc/fstab, /etc/exports, and the automounters? Disk usage analyzer (boabab)?
    • Do we want some kind of data management (replication/migration/backup/mirroring)?

major architecture

  • Need to look at tools for constructing nice GUIs on Linux
    • Ask around
    • Some web searching
    • Look at Python web site: again, Python might be best to prototype
      • Python seems to have plenty of options
    • Let's start small
      • Add a GUI to fdisk, mdadm
      • Try constructing a GUI for managing fstab or exports
      • Build a GUI for starting other applications

operation

random ideas

  • Start simple -- admin /etc/fstab or run smartctl
  • Need place to collect ideas publicly
    • NFSv4 wiki
    • irc -- use #linuxfs, or something else
    • mailing list?
  • Python!
    • Found some interesting pythings that could help
      • module that can do stuff with devices
      • pyparted to deal with partition management
      • pylibacl for... well, you know

free-form notes

Would be nice to have some kind of wizard-like user space tool that would allow virtualized data management on Linux.

Need to scope the requirements.

Do we want some kind of permanent storage management (disk/CF/optical)? Device maintenance? Ways to drive SMART, or other testing?

Do we want some kind of storage pool management (manage LVs, manage pools [for fs's that understand them])?

Do we want some kind of file system managment (create, check, remove, expand)? Managing /etc/fstab, /etc/exports, and the automounters? boabab (disk usage analyzer)

Do we want some kind of data management (replicate/migrate/backup/mirror)?

So I think we can start small. Take a common TUI utility or two (fdisk or mdadm) and try constructing a GUI around it.

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