Linux alternative to Windows 8 Storage Spaces

Thibaultmol

Hi Linux forums

I recently started to research Linux stuff because I noticed that Microsoft seems to be abandoning the desktop (mouse and keyboard) market. I want to stick with it and I'm trying go switch to Linux in as many ways as possible! I have experimented with Linux in the past but always had some kind of issue and it annoyed the hell out of me so I quit trying to use it but now I realise that at some point sooner or later I will have to switch (It's not a bad switch, just a hard one)

So in my transition I'm trying to see what alternatives linux can offer for certain features that are/were Windows exclusive. The feature that I'm currently looking into is the following: Windows Storage Spaces. In case you don't know what that is you can go here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-8/storage-spaces-pools and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7R6fU0Tn6g

I have already been searching for an alternative to this. Currently I have only found this: http://sheepdog.github.io/sheepdog/ . But it seems like this is not a finished project yet. If any of you would like to help me in this 'quest' that would be great

Thank you all in advance!

Thibault

mfillpot

You are referring to LVM and raid functionality. They have been around for a long time.

RAID arrays ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID ) allow you to build the redundant storage which can clone or split storage devices into mutliple physical disks to enable failover. RAID arrays can be implemented as software or hardware based solutions, I have even heard talk that the btrfs filesystem is implementing both functions directly into their kernel instructions, but have not verified it myself.

LVM is used to setup expandable partitions which can expanded by adding additional lvm partitions to the set when you need more space.

Thibaultmol

Thanks for your response mfillpot

I have heard about RAID's and stuff like that but never really got into it because it looked like it was complicated. Do you think there is a solution which would be as simple as Windows Storage Spaces. I mean, it's so easy. You can just select a couple of drives and say "make sure that every file is stored on atleast 2 drives" and other advantages like that.

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/346065-raid-10-hardware-vs-server-2012-storage-spaces-with-parity

EDIT: I will however take a look at LVM, I'll reply to this thread when I fully understand LVM to see if that's what I'm looking for (it might take a week or longer because I'm busy with school sometimes)