Using DRBD over Wide Area Networks
Rogier Spoor, Arjan Peddemors, Paul Dekkers, Christiaan den Besten · 2011
Summary This document describes our experiences with using the Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRBD) open-source storage technology in a Wide Area Network (WAN). It focuses on two aspects: data replication (the basic DRBD functionality) and virtual machine migration (using DRBD as a supporting technology). We provide an overview of existing literature and describe our own experiments with using DRBD in the SURFnet WAN environment, showing that DRBD is a versatile product that can be applied to a range of different applications. The experiments give administrators and users of DRBD a clear impression of what can be expected from this technology – when storage nodes are far apart – and show that opensource technology can be successfully applied to build sophisticated storage environments.