[tahoe-dev] Some questions about setting up a storage grid

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

On 2011-03-05 03:52, Jiawei Jiang wrote:
> We are investigating (performing a feasibility analysis) setting up a
> storage grid (100 - 200 nodes) and have questions regarding what is involved
> to set this up.

That's a rather large grid to start with if you don't have previous
experience with Tahoe-LAFS. The allmydata grid was in that size range,
so it is feasible, but I suggest starting with something smaller and
scaling up if you need to.

> I know that some configurations really depend. There is much
> information on the website, so I am sorry if some of my questions are
> already answered.
> 
> Which is a better choice to install client software on, introducer or users'
> nodes?

To use the Tahoe command-line interface, the Tahoe-LAFS software must be
installed on users' machines (whether or not each user runs their own
gateway). If you only use the web interface or SFTP, then it's possible to
use a web browser or SFTP client without installing Tahoe-LAFS on user
machines, but that might be quite limiting -- there are some things that
you can't do via those interfaces.

In addition, each user must trust the gateway they are connecting to, and
that connection must not be subject to eavesdropping. That means that it
is preferable for each user to run their own gateway.

Tahoe-LAFS runs on many operating systems; essentially any OS that can run
Python. It does not require a particularly high-powered machine.

Each storage server must also run the Tahoe-LAFS software. You can connect
any disks that a storage server's OS supports, but a network-attached-storage
device cannot itself be a node (unless you have access to its OS and can run
arbitrary software on it).

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood  ⚥  http://davidsarah.livejournal.com

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