OS for a NAS?

ddrueding

ddrueding

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I have a 1U server with 4 1TB disks in it. It is an X2 3800 with 4GB of RAM. This will be the main fileserver for the company, and will be set up as RAID-10. All the machines are windows, and the store needs to support AD permissions. I'm looking for the fastest OS/software that is easy to setup and manage. I know many will say Linux/Samba, but I'm not that familiar with it. If there is an easy GUI available, I'm interested. I was also looking at FreeNAS, but I'm not sure about the whole always booting from CD thing. I do have a copy of Server 2003 Web edition sitting on my desk for this purpose, but I am exploring other options.
 
ddrueding said:
and the store needs to support AD permissions.
Click to expand...

You can either go with the Linux/*BSD/Solaris route using SAMBA for filesharing/authentication, etc. in a AD environment or for the easiest solution, just stick with Windows due the whole AD permissions thing. (How much is your time worth learning a new system if something goes wrong, just to save a few $ at the start).

PS. Besides FreeNAS, NexentaStor is another NAS alternative (with paid support options as well). NexentaStor is an Opensolaris distribution focused on NAS like devices.
 
I normally use Linux for that sort of thing. I think it's silly to pay thousands of dollars for user licenses just to serve files.
 
I had decided to go the safe, familiar route and installed Windows 2003 Web edition. Install went fine, and I started taking some performance measurements. A single 1TB disk clocked in at 80MB/s. Striping all four? 80MB/s. Mirroring two? I don't know, as it's taken over 24 hours to "ReSync" two empty drives! WTF! I'm reconsidering a Linux solution. Is it possible/difficult to install Linux onto a RAID-10 of all four? I think that will be my next project.
 
IIRC you have to create a mirrored-only mount point for /boot and then you can use LVM to created a RAID10 set with some amount of data on all of your drives.

The whole softraid setup is really, really nice compared to Windows, though.
 
I just noticed that the SATA controller supports RAID as well. Any advice whether to use that or the Linux SoftRAID?

BTW: A RAID-1 in windows did...80MB/s.
 
Grr...looks like dmraid doesn't support ICH7R? Or ubiquity is somehow blind?

Instructions I followed:

1. Configure array in BIOS
2. Boot Ubuntu 8.10 live CD
3. Install dmraid
4. Verify that dmraid sees the array
5. Launch ubiquity
6. Ubiquity sees 4 independent drives...WTF?
 
Sorry, I changed the hardware during the build.

1U Tyan Tank GT20
Tyan S5191 Mobo (Intel Toledo i3000R chipset with ICH7R)
Q6600
4GB RAM
4x 1TB SATA in hotswap
 
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