Re: [gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Stroller]

On 30 Jan 2009, at 00:06, Harry Putnam wrote:

...
A few I can think of are space and noise.. but having never been
around our run a nas setup... I'm not sure if that is really true.


Power consumption, too. I think some of the off-the-shelf mini-NAS use  
a low-power MIPS processor.


I like a "real Linux" server rather than an off-the-shelf mini-NAS  
because you can do so much more with it. I rip DVDs & download  
torrents on the headless server, as this saves me having to leave my  
workstation on overnight.


Unfortunately "all the other stuff" is a considerable reason I had to  
rule out Solaris, which I would like to have used for its ZFS file- 
system. I felt I probably wouldn't like the package manager, and I  
didn't seem to be able to find supported hot-swap controllers. There's  
just loads of stuff I know I'm more easily going to be able to find  
help with on Linux.


But mini-NAS does really well for many people. I found the problem  
with going it myself to be feature creep - I want room for plenty of  
drives and once you've got a server running 24/7 there's always  
something else you can "usefully" run on there. I ended up buying one  
of these  and a 3ware  
9500 RAID controller - this has turned out pretty expensive but I  
think worth it to me, as it should last me a long time. I am just  
about to build.


3ware's customer support, BTW, is second-to-none - if buying one of  
their controllers on eBay ask the vendor to check the serial, as many  
are still under 3ware's no-quibble 3-year warranty. My experience with  
their tech support has been excellent, and will make them first choice  
for hardware in the future.


Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Neil Bothwick]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:56:48 +0100, Norman Rieß wrote:

> The system only runs nfs, samba and a cups server. I do not use some
> fancy guis or anything like that. So settings have to be made in the
> config files manualy, except the cupsd which brings a web gui. Maybe
> that is something some people would miss. But i do not think a gentoo
> user would care.

If he did, he could emerge webmin :)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

WinErr 002: No Error - Yet


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Re: [gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Norman Rieß]

Harry Putnam schrieb:
> A few I can think of are space and noise.. but having never been
> around our run a nas setup... I'm not sure if that is really true.
>
> Anyway, a few thoughts on what I might be running into doing it myself,
> or missing compared to storebought.  Maybe maintenance
> considerations.. or whatever, would be welcome.
>
>   

I am running my old AthlonXP system with 2 gig ram, a minimal
installation on a small extra disk, 3 disks for data as raid 5 and some
crypto, as a home nas. The system is build from spare parts except the
data disks and a small sata controller, which i had to buy. The old
miditower resides in a lumber-room under a shelf. So noise and space is
no problem. Of course you could build such a system in a smaller case.

The system only runs nfs, samba and a cups server. I do not use some
fancy guis or anything like that. So settings have to be made in the
config files manualy, except the cupsd which brings a web gui. Maybe
that is something some people would miss. But i do not think a gentoo
user would care.

As maintainence i do ,beside the regular emerge --sync and updates, a
raidcheck every weekend, but that can be cronjobed of course.

One point i feel mentionable is scalability. You buy a home nas with two
disks and you are stuck with that two disks because the case can not
handle more than that. Your do-it-yourself nas can do that.
It is a point of personal liking i think. I mean, you buy a home nas
click 5 minutes in the gui an you are done. Selfmade nas needs
understanding of the system, setting the whole thing up and some
configfile changes every now and then.

Regards
Norman

Re: [gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Peter Humphrey]

On Friday 30 January 2009 00:06:05 Harry Putnam wrote:

> I've been looking into setting up or getting somekind of nas
> storage/backup capability lately so thought I'd ask about it here
> since I'm sure some of you will be using something or will have built
> your own.

I just bought a USB hard disk and plug it into whichever box I want to back 
up. Each box has a small rescue system, which I boot into to make the 
backup to ensure that all files are copied. Just a simple tar command, 
without compression for speed.

-- 
Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Matt Harrison]

Harry Putnam wrote:

I've been looking into setting up or getting somekind of nas
storage/backup capability lately so thought I'd ask about it here
since I'm sure some of you will be using something or will have built
your own.

After looking at a few on google .. I'm a little surprised at the high
end pricetags and even the midranges for a factory made setup.

Makes me wonder what if anything I'd be missing, functionality wise,
if I were to build it up myself.

I see these storebought things are mostly running a small embedded
linux os.

The lowend stuff like WD `mybook 1tb world Edition II' advertises
gigabit throughput but I see many reviews that report way less in
practice.  In fact it started to look like that particular one is way
below its advertised capability.  I ran across many complaints about
dreadfully low write speads.  Also apparently has some sorry thing
called Mionet for (secure) remote access.

I'm thinking of doing something like a semi-minimal regular (not
embedded) install on a P4 I have with asus P4C800 mobo and some 2 gigs
ram.  Maybe add an extra sata controller (the mobo has one) so I can
put up to 6 or so sata disks on it along with one small IDE disk for
the OS (just to head of any problems related to installing on sata)

Maybe start with 2 500 sata disks and build up as I need it.  Or more
likely `if I need it'... I kind of doubt I'd need more than 4 anytime
soon so maybe wait on the controller part too.

I guess I'd connect to it mostly thru samba/cifs for windows XP
machines that have lots of biggish graphics and video type stuff to
backup/store.  And nfs for my main gentoo desktop.

I wondered what the downsides are compared to a medium range
storebought rig?

A few I can think of are space and noise.. but having never been
around our run a nas setup... I'm not sure if that is really true.

Anyway, a few thoughts on what I might be running into doing it myself,
or missing compared to storebought.  Maybe maintenance
considerations.. or whatever, wodld be welcome.


I know its a little OT, but I have to mention ZFS. It'll mean running 
Solaris or FreeBSD in order to get the best out of it, but it's worth it.


I changed my fileserver from a gentoo box with software raid and lvm 
over to ZFS on OpenSolaris and I haven't looked back. Gentoo is still my 
main OS but I think you just can't beat ZFS for a filer.


Just check it out and see what you think.

--
Matt Harrison

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?

[gentoo-user] homemade nas setup

[Harry Putnam]

I've been looking into setting up or getting somekind of nas
storage/backup capability lately so thought I'd ask about it here
since I'm sure some of you will be using something or will have built
your own.

After looking at a few on google .. I'm a little surprised at the high
end pricetags and even the midranges for a factory made setup.

Makes me wonder what if anything I'd be missing, functionality wise,
if I were to build it up myself.

I see these storebought things are mostly running a small embedded
linux os.

The lowend stuff like WD `mybook 1tb world Edition II' advertises
gigabit throughput but I see many reviews that report way less in
practice.  In fact it started to look like that particular one is way
below its advertised capability.  I ran across many complaints about
dreadfully low write speads.  Also apparently has some sorry thing
called Mionet for (secure) remote access.

I'm thinking of doing something like a semi-minimal regular (not
embedded) install on a P4 I have with asus P4C800 mobo and some 2 gigs
ram.  Maybe add an extra sata controller (the mobo has one) so I can
put up to 6 or so sata disks on it along with one small IDE disk for
the OS (just to head of any problems related to installing on sata)

Maybe start with 2 500 sata disks and build up as I need it.  Or more
likely `if I need it'... I kind of doubt I'd need more than 4 anytime
soon so maybe wait on the controller part too.

I guess I'd connect to it mostly thru samba/cifs for windows XP
machines that have lots of biggish graphics and video type stuff to
backup/store.  And nfs for my main gentoo desktop.

I wondered what the downsides are compared to a medium range
storebought rig?

A few I can think of are space and noise.. but having never been
around our run a nas setup... I'm not sure if that is really true.

Anyway, a few thoughts on what I might be running into doing it myself,
or missing compared to storebought.  Maybe maintenance
considerations.. or whatever, would be welcome.