Uh! How proud I was yesterday when posting my last stuff about my server project. Everything seemed to work fantastic. Until late night, when suddenly the server freezed (again). No – not the transfer nor the client – the OpenSolaris itself (again). I had this several times last week, but had the feeling that it was gone after reinstalling the OS again.
So what’s with my plans for a Dev server, an Exchange server and – maybe most interesting: what’s with the storage?
This morning I’ve talked to the dealers where I bought the stuff and because I’m within a range of 2 weeks, it’s NO problem to send the stuff back and get my money back. I’ve just ordered a new Onnto DataTale Box (you know – this fancy box which let me add up to 4 HDs and run them as RAID5.
Do I give up too early? I don’t think so. Maybe I’ve just a band hand for local servers (my webserver on the other hand works very well), but I’ve spend way too much time and energy on projects like this. I don’t want to waste much more of my free time and just want to do my work. The Mac Pro is a very good machine for this and honestly, the iCal (DAVical) server on my webserver also does a good job. Yes! I need to run a VM with Outlook to accept invitations or get Entourage (ugh!), but that’s better than wasting time. I start to repeat myself 
It’s just the fact, that messages like this doesn’t help me trust in my files to read messages like this while restoring the files FROM ZFS to a FW800 drive connected to the Mac Pro:
rsync: writefd_unbuffered failed to write 32768 bytes [sender]: Broken pipe (32)
rsync: write failed on “/Volumes/Backup 1/Privat/Filme/123.mkv”: Input/output error (5)
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-40/rsync/receiver.c(268) [receiver=2.6.9]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (64814 bytes received so far) [generator]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-40/rsync/io.c(452) [generator=2.6.9]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (32380 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-40/rsync/io.c(452) [sender=2.6.9]
Constantin Gonzalez
Hi Dennis,sorry to hear about that. Do you think this was a hardware thing? I can’t imagine OpenSolaris freezing up like this for purely software reasons…Cheers, Constantin
Dennis Klein
Not sure, maybe the VMS grabbed too much RAM or so :/ It’s running fine since I’ve switched the VM with Windows off. I think I have to highlight this.
Constantin Gonzalez
Glad you still have your box
. You should leave around at least 1GB or better 2GB for OpenSolaris itself. That means your total RAM minus all of the RAM you assigned to VMs should still leave 2 GB for everything to run smoothly. 1Gb still does work but it’ll be a stretch.Keep in mind that those RAID-5 all-in-one boxes will make you hooked: If they break, there’s no way you can get at your data other than buying the same box again and who knows whether that will be available in 2-3 years or so.
Dennis Klein
Then it was a good plan to buy a 2nd Onnto DataTale today
I think I will discontinue the OpenSolaris project as I’m also heavily thinking of leaving the Apple spot. There’s too much compromises – I need to run a VM all day long for different stuff to be compatible with my clients. It’s like being a black sheep.But honestly, it was an experience.
Christoph Borsbach
Hey Dennis,i really thought “now he’s happy, everything works at last with opensolaris”
. Really sad to hear that’s not the case. Maybe a little less ram for that win-vm will do the trick at last.All the best,Chris
Arne
Hi Dennis,ive been reading about your projects for months now and things dont seem to work the way you want, so i think you made the right decision. Personally, even if i like building stuff, simplicity for my home office is a key to productive work. Thats why i am going to get rid of my desktop and just use a powerful laptop with a docking station to use 2x 24″ and a small linux homeserver and a NAS for backups.