Synchronize two FreeNAS installations with 'read only' sharing

[alexfi]

Hello,
I have the following situation: We have 2 different locations where access to one common fileserver is needed. Between these two sites we have a WAN connection with 5 MBit (symmetric). Our main problem is that we have some large files there and they need to be edited on each site. So I thought of setting up two FreeNAS servers, one at each site and they are synchronized. This would give us enough performance for the 500mb-files (technical CAD). Now my question is whether it is possible to make the two filesystems at each site dependent on each other. So, if a user at the HQ edits a file, another user at the remote site cannot edit this file on his server. So the file should be marked 'read only' on the remote server. By this procedure it would be very simple to prevent inconsistency. After the user at the HQ has finished his work, the file should automatically be synchronized to the remote site and the 'read only'-flag should be unset.

So what I'm searching is a kind of cluster. Is this possible with FreeNAS?

Thank you!
Peter

 

[dlavigne]

Did you find the answer to this?

 

[anodos]

Hello,
I have the following situation: We have 2 different locations where access to one common fileserver is needed. Between these two sites we have a WAN connection with 5 MBit (symmetric). Our main problem is that we have some large files there and they need to be edited on each site. So I thought of setting up two FreeNAS servers, one at each site and they are synchronized. This would give us enough performance for the 500mb-files (technical CAD). Now my question is whether it is possible to make the two filesystems at each site dependent on each other. So, if a user at the HQ edits a file, another user at the remote site cannot edit this file on his server. So the file should be marked 'read only' on the remote server. By this procedure it would be very simple to prevent inconsistency. After the user at the HQ has finished his work, the file should automatically be synchronized to the remote site and the 'read only'-flag should be unset.

So what I'm searching is a kind of cluster. Is this possible with FreeNAS?

Thank you!
Peter

If you're using autocad, they already have a product that does multi-site for you - "vault".

Otherwise, some ISPs offer metro-e connections. They're expensive, but give very good site-to-site performance. They remove the need for vpn and cross-site replication (though that's still a good idea for backups). So it might be good to talk to your ISP and see if they have a solution.

 

[alexfi]

Hi threre,
@dlavigne unfortunally I didn't have found any solution for my problem. @anodos we are using here Solidworks. But the CAD data was just an example of data. It would be nice to have such a solution for all our data.

Is there a solution for FreeNAS available? Perhaps with a ZFS feature?

Thank you for your effort!

Alex

 

[jde]

In reading this thread https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/whats-new-in-10.38928/ it mentions glusterfs will be included in 10.2. I'm don't know too much about glusterfs, but in reading up on it over the last two days, it may provide the functionality you are looking for.

 

[tvsjr]

The problem you face is quite common in the CAD world, and save for some very expensive and usually proprietary solutions, there isn't a good answer. Even better, your CAD software probably generates a jillion little files, which will make replication take a while.

Break the challenge down into parts. You want the dataset present at two places. You want it "active/active". To ensure no conflicts, you need some sort of locking functionality (which may work, or may royally piss off the second CAD user who tries to read a model file in that's locked by user #1). You would also have to ensure connectivity between the two sites... in the event of a connectivity loss, you would either need to fail safe and render both datasets unusable until the mirror could be reestablished, or you would need some sort of conflict resolution solution when the link comes back up (and, what do you do when the file has changed on both ends?) In short, this isn't an easy problem.

Short of a proprietary solution, typically designed to work with whatever app you use, or some really sketchy/klugey mechanisms, your best bet is probably to upgrade the link between the two sites and let people access the remote server over the network. GlusterFS won't solve your problem entirely, either... it requires a self-heal check on every file, on access, from every server where the file resides... if you have a sippy-straw in the middle and start loading CAD documents with hundreds or thousands of files each, it's going to grind to a halt.

 

[anodos]

Another solution if there are relatively few users at the remote site is to have them remote into CAD workstation(s) located at the main office. Remote desktop connection are better able to weather crap network connections than CIFS can. You'd still probably need to upgrade your internet speed.