I wonder if installing (and running) Linux (CentOS, in this case) from a USB pendrive is a smart or stupid move.
Please note that:
- I am talking about server environment, not clients;
- I mean full OS install, not a read-only ISO-like boot image (ie: a “standard” install)
Practical example: a 8-bay server for ZoL duties, with 6x SATA disks and 2x SSD (for cache and SLOG). Would you install CentOS on a dedicated partition on the SSDs (with MD software RAID1) or using two (again, with MD RAID1) USB pendrives for OS install is a good idea?
Background information: reserving two disks for a RAID1 OS array is becoming relatively inefficient. After all, for a standard Linux install 32-64 GB are more that sufficient, but any SATA/SAS disk is much bigger than that. I am inclined to use two small-capacity SSDs where possible, but this means two disk slots are basically “thrown away”. Another possibility is not using dedicated OS disks, instead relying on array/LVM partitioning to get the work done.
I was wondering if, with the ever-increasing USB pendrives capacities and low cost (ie: a 64 GB Toshiba-branded pendrive costs about €25), using a software-based RAID1 USB array is a good idea. In this manner, all disk slots can be dedicated to the data array itself (maybe using ZoL). After all, this is the exact setup used by many dedicated appliances (FreeNAS, for example) and something similar already exists in the form of embedded, RAIDed SD cards.
However, I often face client-grade USB support which is flacky at best (ie: the entire USB roots reset when under load) and I am somewhat concerned that server-grade USB roots/ports are not so much better. Moreover, I read about broken/flacky embedded SD cards and this can obviously happen with USB devices also.
Thanks.
Answer
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : shodanshok , Answer Author : Community
