InfoWorld just recently posted a review of a Sun x4500 "Thumper" server. What made the review particularly interesting for me is not the fact that this comparatively small server can pack 24TB of storage and can be considered the cheapest storage per gigabyte on the market. What really intrigued me is how other operating systems stack up on this platform -- 48 drives and 24TB storage is a pretty good combination for competing OS's to stretch their legs and show what they're truly worth. Well, the author of the review concedes that both Windows and Linux are not really fit for this sort of largish storage configuration:

For Linux and Windows, this is a problem, as the default file systems on those OSes aren’t really equipped to deal with this number of drives in a single system, nor with the file system sizes you can achieve with the X4500. Those operating systems can make use of the X4500, but with limited I/O speeds, higher CPU utilization, and the requirement that the 48 drives be cut into smaller logical segments. For instance, the default file system on RHEL4, ext3, is limited to 8TB, and it’s not possible to create a software RAID with more than 20 devices.

Solaris 10 on the other hand using ZFS appears to be a perfect match for this largish storage configuration, in a matter of minutes you can have a fully populated storage pool that can be cut into filesystems at your will. So here we go, a clear demonstration of Solaris and ZFS superiority in configurations above the domain of bottom feeders such as Windows and Linux.

Judging by this entry on blogs.sun.com the Sun Cluster product will be soon open sourced! Wow, this is great news and will make a super nice addition to Open Solaris. I think Sun Cluster is the best HA clustering product for Unix on the market and seeing it open sourced is just great. Good on you Sun!