I've been doing something similar to Tom for almost as long (around 10
years). I started with a Linux server (Debian) with a pile of drives
running ext2/3. I distributed my files by category across the drives
(picture, movies, docs, source code, etc.). However, I got really tired of
that a few years ago when ZFS started getting popular and I put together an
OpenSolaris box with ZFS and pooled all of my drives together.
The Solaris box was all sorts of fun because I originally did that with a
PCI PATA software RAID card (specifically purchased because it had a driver
for Solaris x86) and mismatched disks (250GB, a few 320GB, a few 160GB) but
they will went together in the pool and actually worked reasonably well. I
would have been ok with that, but just like Tom, I was trying to use this
system as more than just a file server. It was a media server, an IRC
client, a VNC host, and a bunch of other things. Solaris's package
management and software availability was not that great. So, I moved over
to FreeBSD and struggled with the ports system (keeping it updated,
resolving conflicts, etc.) for a year or so until I finally gave up on it.
By then I had upgraded to 5x400GB SATA drives. I threw them all in a RAID5
under Ubuntu Server and called it a day until the motherboard on that
server died. At that point, I just cycled my main desktop down and made
that the server with two 2TB USB drives plugged in. One hosts everything
and the other is a backup. All backups are done via an hourly rsync (plus I
backup my home directories on the server to the backup drive). Some day
I'll get back to ZFS, especially now that it's in a stable state on Linux
so I can have the best of both worlds.
- Chris
On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 1:00 PM, Tom Buskey <t...@buskey.name> wrote:
> I 1st started running a home file server > 12 years ago. Being a
> sysadmin, I've built my own. Everything here is for the home user. I can
> kick my family off the server and deal with a week's downtime. I probably
> can't do that at a business,
>
> I've used a Netgear ReadyNAS and a Buffalo TerraStation at work. They
> couldn't keep up with gigabit ethernet to deliver > 40 MB/s because of the
> ARM. I've heard good things about Synology.
>
> I used to use RAID5, but I've switched to RAID1 because I only need to
> replace 2 drives for more capacity. Also, fewer spindles means lower power
> use. I don't use hardware RAID. CPUs are fast enough now that the speed
> isn't that much of an advantage. Dealing with drivers make it harder to
> repair from bare metal. I've done SCSI, IDE and SATA.
>
> I'm at home so I don't care about hotswap. I can power down for a fix.
>
> I've used Solaris with disksuite, Linux with mdadm + LVM + ext[234],
> Solaris with ZFS, OpenSolaris with ZFS and now Linux with ZFS. I'd
> considered FreeBSD + ZFS.
>
> - I run RAID1 for the OS drives. It's saved me a few times.
> - Put a UPS on it. When it detects a power outage, do an automatic
> graceful shutdown ASAP.
> - Have your data on another set of drives. That way an OS upgrade doesn't
> affect it.
> - chunk up your data into separate areas.
> photos
> books/manuals
> downloads
> music
> wife's home
> kid's home
>
> I've used LVM to set a size for the chunks. Now I use ZFS. LVM requires
> a umount to change size. zfs is zfs set quota=newsize pool/chunk. I use
> ZFS on Linux.
>
> I run NFS, Samba and http for access via Unixen, Windows, MacOSX and
> Android. I've run Appletalk for old Macs I play with. I also run
> mediaservers for DLNA, DAAP, TiVo. Solaris wasn't good at this. FreeBSD
> probably isn't as good as Linux. I know Synology will do this kind of
> thing.
>
> Once, I had a dual Pentium II w/ 1 GB RAM. It wasn't enough speed for me
> (I want > 40 MB/s on gigabit). I was happy with a dual core 1.8 GHz system
> with 3 GB RAM. LVM/Ext3 would be ok with less RAM and ZFS wants more. You
> don't want an old P4 system because it uses too much power.
>
> If you need more disks then can fit in the chassis, you can use a 4 port
> SATA card ($20-$40), long cables and an old PC chassis with a power
> supply. I ran 8 500 GB drives that way until I replaced them with 2 4TB
> drives using half the watts. Paid for the upgrade in months.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 3:09 PM, Greg Rundlett (freephile) <
> g...@freephile.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 11:25 AM, Mark Komarinski
>> <mkomarin...@wayga.org>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Anyway, I ordered the HP N54L, 8GB of RAM, and two 4TB drives. This
>>> leaves me with two expansion bays and the ability to use FreeNAS with
>>> ZFS. I looked at OMV but it seems to not be as mature as FreeNAS. If
>>> anyone's interested I can do another post once it's built and in use.
>>>
>>> -Mark
>>>
>>
>> /me waving hand
>>
>> I'm interested. Finally getting around to (re-)organizing my LAN-wide
>> backups and storage.
>>
>> Greg Rundlett
>>
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