low power high performance NFS server

Thought I would update a post with my current favorite system for use as a home NFS server.

I bought a Via Jetway J7F4 board, which has a 1.2GHz Via Eden processor, dual gigabit networks, SATA, etc. all in a mini-ITX form-factor. I put this into a microATX case, along with an optical drive, a pair of 200GB SATA drives, a single PATA drive (for the OS), 1GB RAM, and a US Robotics gigE PCI card.

Add Solaris 10 06/06, and ZFS, and this is nearly an ideal server for my work needs. This was the first time I've used ZFS, and I'm very impressed so far.

The good: very low power consumption (<40W total, I think), quiet, 22MB/sec NFS, 200GB mirrored (using ZFS, not h/w raid), $500 total price, plus Solaris so I can do extra things like run an NIS server.

The bad: the fanless Via C7 got too hot at 1.2GHz, so underclocked it at 1.0GHz to avoid hangs, onboard gigE not supported (yet -- am working with engineering at Sun to fix that).

What I would change: my next system will use a 1.5GHz J7F2 board (with fan), which trades the onboard gigE for additional port options, while allowing me to use a daughtercard with gigE.

What I want from Solaris: support for the onboard rtl8110sc gigE (in progress), support for the on-chip crypto (Via Padlock)

afe Solaris integration

Well, it looks like my "afe" device driver for Solaris (common commodity ethernet part) my finally be getting integrated into Solaris. The process has been a bit rocky, as apparently I'm treading new ground here.

Recently I was informed that a full legal review of the code was needed (again) before the code could be integrated. So I'm waiting for that. (The code is released under a 3-clause BSD license. You can find it at sourceforge if you can't wait for the Solaris integration.)

After integration I'll be looking at updating it to use the new nemo (GLDv3) framework.

what's in a name

Well, I finally decided it was time to set up a blog. But what does that name mean, anyway?

Well, I work for a company called Tadpole (well, technically we are now part of General Dynamics, but its easy to forget that...), we have products called Bullfrog, Viper, Comet, etc. And mostly we work with Sun Microsystems on products which are named after celestial bodies.

My job mostly involves writing device drivers for our Solaris product line and embedded stuff. (For example, I did a bunch of work on Comet, which is basically a mobile Sun Ray with additional features for wireless and VPN use.) I've also done some work with NetBSD, and a lot of my stuff has been open sourced.

This blog is mostly related to my stuff about my work. I'll probably post other ramblings here as well.

It should be noted that my employer hasn't necessarily approved these postings, and my opinions posted here may or may not be those of my employer. They certainly are not intended to be representative.

Anyway, thanks for checking this out, and stay tuned as hopefully I will be updating this semi-often.