Some questions about network storage computer

[drdoom]

So I am already thinking ahead to when I max out my little 2 drive NAS. The problem is a nice 4+ drive unit quickly climbs in price. How powerful does a dedicated computer need to be to serve that roll. I have a 5400+ BE sitting around not doing anything. It was going to be a media computer but I took so long to get it up and running I ended up building another one with a 720 BE. It might be cheaper to just use that computer and put the 300 or so dollars toward drives instead. Also, can I use Linux and have windows computers access the drives? Would that be hard to setup?

[James]

Answers to a few of your questions:

1. You don't need much CPU at all, especially if you are not doing software RAID calculations.
2. When using Linux, you use a program called Samba to present CIFS/SMB shares, which are the formats that windows looks for as network shares.

It is actually extremely easy to install something like Ubuntu or CentOS, or even a much much lighter weight variant of linux, and run a NAS from it. How many drives do you want to use? What raid levels? Backup strategy for the NAS? recovery strategy for the NAS? All questions you will probably want to think about before building your own, or even buying a larger one.

Keep in mind the large "powerful" NAS devices on the market, the QNAP's and Synology's, etc. are all just dual-core Atom CPU's with 1-3GB of RAM and 1-2GB of flash memory storage for the linux OS they run.

[Nick_B]

It is actually extremely easy to install something like Ubuntu or CentOS, or even a much much lighter weight variant of linux, and run a NAS from it. How many drives do you want to use? What raid levels? Backup strategy for the NAS? recovery strategy for the NAS? All questions you will probably want to think about before building your own, or even buying a larger one.

I'd also take a look at OS tailored to run a filer like FreeNAS and/or OpenFiler.

[James]

I'd also take a look at OS tailored to run a filer like FreeNAS and/or OpenFiler.

Nexenta CE is my current favorite, but being OpenSolaris Kernel + Ubuntu Userland tools + ZFS based, it does require a decent amount of horsepower if you are planning on running more than 3-5 disks due to the checksumming and parity calculations. It also isn't "native" linux, which means any experience with linux previous to it will be of limited help. That being said, ZFS is still currently my #1 choice for filesystems, and Nexenta makes it extremely easy to do so. It's what I'm running on my home NAS right now.

[drdoom]

Answers to a few of your questions:

1. You don't need much CPU at all, especially if you are not doing software RAID calculations.
2. When using Linux, you use a program called Samba to present CIFS/SMB shares, which are the formats that windows looks for as network shares.

It is actually extremely easy to install something like Ubuntu or CentOS, or even a much much lighter weight variant of linux, and run a NAS from it. How many drives do you want to use? What raid levels? Backup strategy for the NAS? recovery strategy for the NAS? All questions you will probably want to think about before building your own, or even buying a larger one.

Keep in mind the large "powerful" NAS devices on the market, the QNAP's and Synology's, etc. are all just dual-core Atom CPU's with 1-3GB of RAM and 1-2GB of flash memory storage for the linux OS they run.

Looking at them I thought that they were just stripped down PC's set up to do one thing. They are very expensive considering what you are getting. I want to use at least 4 drives with some form of RAID that gives data redundancy. I just checked the board only has 2 SATA connectors and PCI slots so I would have to get a PCI RAID card. Will that be a problem using a PCI controller card? I was planning on using Ubuntu since I am already familiar with it.

[James]

Looking at them I thought that they were just stripped down PC's set up to do one thing. They are very expensive considering what you are getting. I want to use at least 4 drives with some form of RAID that gives data redundancy. I just checked the board only has 2 SATA connectors and PCI slots so I would have to get a PCI RAID card. Will that be a problem using a PCI controller card? I was planning on using Ubuntu since I am already familiar with it.

You are paying for:

1. Custom hardware. Yes, they are almost universally (except for very low or high end) a dual-core atom solution with 1-3GB of RAM and a nice hot-swappable backplane/enclosure. But you are paying for the form factor.

2. Software. Again, yes; it is nothing more than a variant of linux focused on running md-RAID and perhaps a few other services. But they have tested and stripped down and optimized it.

So you are paying for someone to install and optimize linux on hardware that is a limited-run custom design.

[rimmerchant]

you can look at the "HP proliant 40L micro server"
it's pretty cheap and pops up at $199 quite often.

I got one and have 7 HDD on it. and run Win7 ultimate x64 as my file server.
no redundancy as I just set it as a regular desktop with filesharing on the drives.

but it is like a regular computer, you can put linux or what ever os/setting u want.

[drdoom]

Where are you seeing it for 199? I couldn't find it for less than 300.

[James]

you can look at the "HP proliant 40L micro server"
it's pretty cheap and pops up at $199 quite often.

I got one and have 7 HDD on it. and run Win7 ultimate x64 as my file server.
no redundancy as I just set it as a regular desktop with filesharing on the drives.

but it is like a regular computer, you can put linux or what ever os/setting u want.

When you say 7 hdd "on it"....

It's a 4-bay enclosure. Are you hanging the other drives off of it via USB?

[wh666-666]

Before the mac mini in my sig, I had a p4 with 1GB of ram and that was more than enough on server 2003.

Next, I will be using a small atom board with 1GB ram. My server file shares, acts as a firewall/vpn gateway, while connected to private trackers on torrents. Then at night-time, when it isnt accessed when everyone is asleep, it will convert media, etc etc.

You really dont need a powerful rig for home use.