Network Attached Storage Devices

[Alexstein]

or this, if you are feeling really keen...

http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/03/19/backblaze-storage-pod-4/

OR

http://www.nexsan.com/products/e-series-family/e-series-v.aspx

[Bird]

http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6&sid=4ee71eb39fd68b8e91f70fffd4a2bab3
http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5406-run-synology-diskstation-on-your-microserver/
http://homeservershow.com/forums/index.php?/topic/7153-hp-microserver-as-4-bay-nasoptions/

http://xpenology.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1758 Installing this: http://xpenology.trantor.be/

There is also this, but I think its using a vm to do it.

http://patrickscholten.com/install-synology-dsm-esxi-5-x-virtual-machine/

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=HP+ProLiant+N54L+&spos=3

[Alexstein]

This is the very reason we use a proper san with SAS channels for our VM Hosts

You could make a simple pc with loads of disks in it into a SAN easily with a SAS controller. Unfortunetly the SAS controller will run the same cost as the NAS you have unless you can find something on ebay.

I can use my enclosure (Norco RPC4224) as a SAN if needed.

The SAS expander i have is the following >
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HP-468406-B21-PROLIANT-24-BAY-3GB-SAS-EXPANDER-CARD-/400678802750?pt=AU_Server_Accessories_Parts&hash=item5d4a51553e&_uhb=1

which then goes into a flashed M1015 raid controller >
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-LSI-MegaRAID-9240-8i-8-port-PCI-E-6Gb-RAID-Controller-IBM-M1015-46M0861-/291031942880?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item43c2db06e0&_uhb=1

The m1015 controller can still control 8 disks on its own ports.

[Brucer]

I bought a QNAP TS419 a couple years ago. It works well but my only regret is that I didn't go a bit upmarket for one of the models with Intel processor. The ARM processor is adequate but if you want to do more with your NAS other than just basic storage functions, the Intel versions are better supported.. refer this http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?sn=859 and are better able to cope with the load.
I use mine as a media storage/server and run Twonky DLNA server which works fine.

[Bird]

This is the very reason we use a proper san with SAS channels for our VM Hosts

You could make a simple pc with loads of disks in it into a SAN easily with a SAS controller. Unfortunetly the SAS controller will run the same cost as the NAS you have unless you can find something on ebay.

I can use my enclosure (Norco RPC4224) as a SAN if needed.

The SAS expander i have is the following >
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HP-468406-B21-PROLIANT-24-BAY-3GB-SAS-EXPANDER-CARD-/400678802750?pt=AU_Server_Accessories_Parts&hash=item5d4a51553e&_uhb=1

which then goes into a flashed M1015 raid controller >
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-LSI-MegaRAID-9240-8i-8-port-PCI-E-6Gb-RAID-Controller-IBM-M1015-46M0861-/291031942880?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item43c2db06e0&_uhb=1

The m1015 controller can still control 8 disks on its own ports.

yea, but your only slightly getting away from a cheap solution that most can afford, let alone understand.

[Alexstein]

yea, but your only slightly getting away from a cheap solution that most can afford, let alone understand.

In short the most NAS devices are just 4 or 6 drives. The next step after this is a SAN or a server with loads of disks. My server is just a load of disks but the controllers allow UnRaid to the disks as individual disks and not as a raid array.

Just changing up the topic slightly.

With unraid if you lose the array you can still load the disks up invididually and see what was on them. With the NAS's if you lose more than one disk your screwed.

[schmik]

I'm a SAN engineer for the market leading SAN company.

I use plain old external drives as they are the best bang for buck. I back up every day to external disk at home and once every few months i bring a disk home and backup. That one lives at work in case of fire or theft.

I guess if you need to back up (or store) more than 4TB you may need a NAS... The slowest oldest SATA drives on USB 2 are fast enough to stream movies at 720p.
No idea why you would need any more than that at home... unless you like fiddling.

[Bird]

I'm a SAN engineer for the market leading SAN company.

so... discounts

[Alexstein]

Shmik.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/05/fios-customer-discovers-the-limits-of-unlimited-data-77-tb-in-month/

[schmik]

so... discounts

Umm yeah maybe. Discounts on gear that you need 3 phase power for. 
My employer doesn't make 'consumer' grade gear.

[WilSurf]

SAN, SAS, etc.
Sorry, you all have lost me.

[Crimso]

SAN, SAS, etc.
Sorry, you all have lost me.

Me too, I'm sort of up on ToW, TenT & PoLe technology, but this new stuff just confuses me.

[Bird]

Interesting -> http://www.freenas.org/

[paceman]

Interesting -> http://www.freenas.org/

one growing problem with freenas is it's increasing use of RAM.

current recommendations is 16GB of RAM for home use.  this is quite a lot...

http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Hardware_Recommendations

[Bird]

one growing problem with freenas is it's increasing use of RAM.

current recommendations is 16GB of RAM for home use.  this is quite a lot...

http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Hardware_Recommendations

I missed that bit.. although RAM is dirt cheap now, it still sounds stupid to need that much.

If you plan to use your server for home use, you can often soften the rule of thumb of 1 GB of RAM for every 1 TB of storage, though 8 GB of RAM is still the recommended minimum. If performance is inadequate you should consider adding more RAM as a first remedy. The sweet spot for most users in home/small business is 16GB of RAM.

[paceman]

I missed that bit.. although RAM is dirt cheap now, it still sounds stupid to need that much.

If you plan to use your server for home use, you can often soften the rule of thumb of 1 GB of RAM for every 1 TB of storage, though 8 GB of RAM is still the recommended minimum. If performance is inadequate you should consider adding more RAM as a first remedy. The sweet spot for most users in home/small business is 16GB of RAM.

that's what i thought.  why does it need so much ram??  it's a bit of a worry and in the end, one of the reasons i steered clear...

[Bird]

that's what i thought.  why does it need so much ram??  it's a bit of a worry and in the end, one of the reasons i steered clear...

I think when Im cashed again I'll just got he HP N54L
http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=HP+ProLiant+N54L+&spos=3

[paceman]

I think when Im cashed again I'll just got he HP N54L
http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=HP+ProLiant+N54L+&spos=3

i've got the previous version of this (n36) with 8gb of ram running windows 2008 r2 and it has not missed a beat in three years....

you won't be disappointed...

[noel_w]

So.. I have setup a box at home with unRaid. 2 x 1.5Tb drives so far as data drives and am copying data off a 2Tb drive so I can use it as the parity drive.
So far so good, simple to setup as a basic storehouse. Can add extensions to it but am rusty on linux/unix so will leave that and make a playbox to play with rather than my data box. Once I work it out then I would add the extension to the real machine.
Am using an old 2.6Gig Celeron with 2 Gig ram. Working like a bought one.
Only gripe is that it advertises the drives as shares (Flash, Drive1, Drive2) as well as user defined shares. OK for me but would be a pain to tell everyone not to use the drives as storeage but to use the shares instead if you were using it with a few people around.


The hardware requirements was what put me off using Freenas.

[Markbell]

I'm thinking of replacing my server 2003 with NAS. 8 users accessing file share and 1 printer.

Anyone see a problem with this?

[paceman]

I'm thinking of replacing my server 2003 with NAS. 8 users accessing file share and 1 printer.

Anyone see a problem with this?

not on the surface, but:

have you got a NAS in mind?
how much data are you sharing?
is this likely to increase by much, year on year?
is this business or home?
what's your budget?

[Markbell]

Looking at Qnap
At the moment out server is 300gb incl operating system. So even if I double or triple data should not be an issue.
It's for business with max 8 users at the moment.

Other alternative being given to me is 10k server. Can't see how for just simple file sharing I need to outlay that sort of $.

Budget flexible as I want this to be solution for some time.

Thanks.

[paceman]

Looking at Qnap
At the moment out server is 300gb incl operating system. So even if I double or triple data should not be an issue.
It's for business with max 8 users at the moment.

Other alternative being given to me is 10k server. Can't see how for just simple file sharing I need to outlay that sort of $.

Budget flexible as I want this to be solution for some time.

Thanks.

a qnap should be fine for this purpose, as long as it is just for file serving and not application serving...

[Ironman 4x4]

At hope I pulled together a micro server for myself.

I use a HP N40L in which I run 5x 3tb drives. There is 4 slots plus a 5.25 slot for CD/DVD which I converted to instead take a 5th drive.

It's a great unit and has served me very well over the last 12 months.

I run Freenas 8 on it.

Great value too. Picked up the N40L for $200. Put 8 gig of ECC ram in it, which was another $70. Then the 5 drives I put in were $675. It was dead easy to put together. Only other cost was a USB drive to use as the boot disk (that runs the OS). This I just had lying around, but it's an 8gig USB, nothing special.

[paceman]

At hope I pulled together a micro server for myself.

I use a HP N40L in which I run 5x 3tb drives. There is 4 slots plus a 5.25 slot for CD/DVD which I converted to instead take a 5th drive.

It's a great unit and has served me very well over the last 12 months.

I run Freenas 8 on it.

Great value too. Picked up the N40L for $200. Put 8 gig of ECC ram in it, which was another $70. Then the 5 drives I put in were $675. It was dead easy to put together. Only other cost was a USB drive to use as the boot disk (that runs the OS). This I just had lying around, but it's an 8gig USB, nothing special.

a very under-rated piece of equipment, the hp microserver is...