We installed a NAS a couple of years ago, and for the most part it has been relatively trouble-free. Some problems which came up:
- Nonstandard Windows 2000 system surprised some of the Windows systems administrators as some tools were not present which they were used to. - Overly-trusting NFS system. If I was root on Unix box A, then I automatically became admin on the NAS. This was not particularly secure so we disabled it and went back to CIFS only. You might enquire about this because later versions of NAS may be a bit more secure now. I think the NASs that use Services for Unix may be OK as you just specify whether root on one is admin on the other (or not). - Check how expandable the disk array is, and subscribe to the manufacturer's end-of-life list. We got caught out with an expandable system but it would only work with the same brand arrays, and they were EOLd about a year after we bought it. - Users always fill up file systems unless they are micro-managed. We partitioned our NAS with the main array being one phy partition, multiple logical ones (Win shares). The net result was some users tended to hog the array and others complained about no space. The better option is to virtualise the space: ask your provider if they can do this. It might cost a bit extra though. - In a large org, users come and go. This means files and sometimes great gobs of stuff get orphaned, and Groups get unmanaged. You really need to have eye on this, maybe get some procedures written down that everyone follows. As for large files, they should be OK. They will just take a while to open. For large directories, I have seen one with over 16000 entries in it. It takes about 40 seconds to view the directory. Do take out a service contract on a NAS because a lot more people are relying on it being available compared with desktop computers, and if it breaks you need it up quickly. Make sure you can restore user's file when they accidentally delete them, so you will need some backup/restore system. Cheers, Jill. -----Original Message----- From: Rajnish [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, 5 August 2005 12:28 PM To: slug@slug.org.au Subject: [SLUG] Network Attached Storage (NAS) All, I would like to get your esteemed opinion on a number of queries concerning NAS. But first a background - our LAN accomodates a number of diff OSes, including Solaris, Linux, Win2K and WinXP. We would like to attach NAS device(s) on the LAN, and be able to access storage space from all the above OSes. In particular, it is important that NAS devices support NFS - to enable Un*x boxes to mount the space. The space is to be used both as permanent storage as well as "overflow" workspaces for our developers. Questions: 1) Is NAS a suitable solution for such an environment ? If a case is to be made for/against it, what are the ups and downs ? 2) More importantly, what are your experiences with dealing with these devices ? Do they support NFS ? 3) Your experiences with speed and reliability ? We have particularly large files (200MB-2GB) to deal with and compiles includes a large number of files. Any tips, suggestions, references will be appreciated. Thanking you all in anticipation. Please reply to NG for future reference. -- Regards, Rajnish -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTICES This email (including any documents referred to in, or attached, to this email) may contain information that is personal, confidential or the subject of copyright or other proprietary rights in favour of Aristocrat, its affiliates or third parties. This email is intended only for the named addressee. Any privacy, confidence, copyright or other proprietary rights in favour of Aristocrat, its affiliates or third parties, is not lost because this email was sent to you by mistake. 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