> We rolled out a cluster of 5 nodes and 1024 partitions. Each node has 8gig of memories, 3x1Tb disk in RAID5.
This hardware configuration doesn't make sense. 8 gigabytes of memory is pathetically small today. 32 gigs is basically standard, with 64 gigs costing little extra. RAID 5 with only three disks will have horrible performance. A single machine with 32/64 gigs and 12-16 disks in a better RAID configuration should perform better at a lower operational cost.
This hardware configuration doesn't make sense. 8 gigabytes of memory is pathetically small today. 32 gigs is basically standard, with 64 gigs costing little extra. RAID 5 with only three disks will have horrible performance. A single machine with 32/64 gigs and 12-16 disks in a better RAID configuration should perform better at a lower operational cost.