TT01
SAS Cluster Disk Management: Using SAS to Manage Virtual Disks on a Cluster of File Servers

Haftan M Eckholdt, DayTrends, LLC
Ezra Benun, DayTrends, LLC

Using SAS to manage low cost virtual drives on clusters of file servers is very simple and enables researchers to approach larger more complex problems. We will discuss methods for using SAS for: (1) managing very large virtual drives in file server clust ers, (2) random and symmetric file naming, file seeking, file mapping, and management on these virtual drives, (3) visual and quantitative assessments of cluster usage and file distribution, and (4) provide crude versions of RAID backup redundancy. These methods allow research groups to acquire very large storage capacity at extremely low costs.