Installation guide

2. Performance, Scalability, and Economy
You can deploy GFS in a variety of configurations to suit your needs for performance, scalabil-
ity, and economy. For superior performance and scalability, you can deploy GFS in a cluster
that is connected directly to a SAN. For more economical needs, you can deploy GFS in a
cluster that is connected to a LAN with servers that use GNBD (Global Network Block Device).
The following sections provide examples of how GFS can be deployed to suit your needs for
performance, scalability, and economy:
• Section 2.1, “Superior Performance and Scalability”
• Section 2.2, “Performance, Scalability, Moderate Price”
• Section 2.3, “Economy and Performance”
Note
The deployment examples in this chapter reflect basic configurations; your needs
might require a combination of configurations shown in the examples.
2.1. Superior Performance and Scalability
You can obtain the highest shared-file performance when applications access storage directly.
The GFS SAN configuration in Figure 1.1, “GFS with a SAN” provides superior file performance
for shared files and file systems. Linux applications run directly on GFS nodes. Without file pro-
tocols or storage servers to slow data access, performance is similar to individual Linux servers
with directly connected storage; yet, each GFS application node has equal access to all data
files. GFS supports over 300 GFS nodes.
2.1. Superior Performance and Scalability
2