On Wed, Jul 05, 2006 at 10:23:57AM -0700, Ginja_Ninja wrote:
> Joachim Schipper wrote:
> >
> > Why the CF? It's slow, and relatively expensive. It's good for embedded
> > systems, but if you already have a huge disk, use that.
> >
>
> hmmmm I can see your point. Its only a thought at the moment but the reason
> i am looking in this direction is:
> If the OS is seperated from the files and i decide to upgrade the storage
> HDD, i dont have to format and reinstall/setup the OS and the relevant
> applications.
>
> CF is slow, i agree with you, but how much crunching will the OS do ?
> I suppose i wont be able to have a swap file on the CF as it will destroy it
> quickly. Will have to pack it full of RAM.
If you want to put a different HD in, you'll have to copy the data
anyway; copying the OS as well is not exactly difficult (the only thing
you could reasonably do wrong is forget to re-run installboot(8)).
(Note: *NIX is not Windows, just tarring and untarring results in a
system that still works fine, if a bootloader is added. This is as true
for OpenBSD as it is for, say, Linux - barring a kernel optimized for
your specific hardware, of course, which is not recommended for OpenBSD
and not usual in the Linux world.)
The OS shouldn't use the disk much, but adding CF will make your server
more complex, more expensive, and slower. I really don't see the point.
RAM is in general a very good idea for a server; this is less true for a
fileserver, though - good disks matter. If you have the money, consider
a good disk and a good controller. Or, if possible, a RAID array (which
is fast, not too expensive if you actually use the I, and more reliable
than any single disk).
Joachim
