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I'm planning to build a cluster of single-board computers I could then use as file (using Ceph) and database (Postgres XL) server. As the performance of the Mixtile Blade 3 quite impresses me, I think I will couple a handful of them into a cluster.

However, I've got the following issue:

Some of these nodes (4 of them at the beginning) will be equipped with one SSD each, whereas the rest will be used as computing nodes. The Mixtile Blade has a 4-lane PCIe 3 port, which can be used either for attaching an SSD, or for daisy-chaining nodes into a high-speed network. Once the PCIe port has an SSD on it, it's no longer available for daisy-chaining.

Shall I then connect the two 2.5 GBit ethernet ports of the storage nodes (with the PCIe SSDs) to a switch, bond them (eth0 + eth1 → bond0) to get 5 GBit / sec and then also network the remaining nodes in the same manner? Will this allow to access the SSDs from all cluster nodes without compromising speed, latency, or safety?

Neppomuk
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1 Answers1

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I suggest using a PCIe switch to connect all Blade 3 boards (2-lane each board) and leave the remaining 2-lane for the SSD. Please see the topology graph: 1.

DarkDiamond
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mlzy
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