* Re: What NAS device(s) do you use? And why?
2010-12-12 18:18 ` What NAS device(s) do you use? And why? David Gonzalez Herrera
@ 2010-12-13 10:22 ` Rudi Ahlers
0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: Rudi Ahlers @ 2010-12-13 10:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David Gonzalez Herrera; +Cc: xen-devel, xen-users
On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 8:18 PM, David Gonzalez Herrera
<dgonzalezh@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well my two cents on this,
> As NAS/SAN I use a Rackable Systems server with CentOS 5.5 x64, 4 1TB disks
> and bonded Ethernet NICs, I built that box for about $500 disks are SATA II,
> and NICs are integrated Broadcom GiE, and if you wan scalability it's just a
> matter of getting more units and stack'em using GFS or something, I haven't
> set that up ever, I just create new RAD arrays and mount points as the need
> grows.
> If you want something bigger than 2U there's aklways the good old Proliant
> DL585 which is a monster 4U, and I've seen 8U beasts on eBay, so I guess
> it's just a matter of looking into it, and don't forget the lame Dell
> powervaults.
> Hope this is some sort of guideline for your project,
> Good luck.
>
> ---
> David Gonzalez H.
> DGHVoIP - OPEN SOURCE TELEPHONY SOLUTIONS
> Phone Bogotá: +(57-1)289-1168
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> Proud Linux User #294661
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 11:15 AM, Rudi Ahlers <Rudi@softdux.com> wrote:
>>
>> If you use any NAS (or a SAN) devices, what do you use? And I'm
>> referring more to larger scale network storage than your home PC or
>> home theater system.
>>
>> We've had very good experiences with our NetGear ReadyNAS devices but
>> I'm in the market for something new. The NetGear's aren't the cheapest
>> ones around but they do what it says on the box. My only real gripe
>> with them is the lack of decent scalability.
>>
>> TheCus devices seems to be rather powerful as well, and you can stack
>> upto 5 units together. But that's where the line stops.
>>
>> I'm now looking for something that could scale beyond 100TB on one
>> device (not necessarily one unit though) and find it frustrating that
>> most NAS's come in 1U or 2U at most.
>>
>> Maybe I'm just not shopping around enough, or maybe I prefer to well
>> known brands, I don't know.
>>
>>
>>
>> So, what do you use?
>> How well does it work for you?
>> And, how reliable / fast / scalable is it?
>>
>> --
Thanx for all the replies to far, it's been very helpful and I
gathered a lot of info.
Right now I'm still researching, but my goals as as follows:
1. For a (possible new) client who needs to archive CCTV footage in a
security company for an NPO. I need the cheapest possible way of doing
this, while still being able to grow the storage within one host. The
PVR can only access one single NAS (via FTP) so I need to keep it
simple. Their budget is obviously limited so I need to keep it costly.
2. To change our backup strategy. Currently we backup all our client's
data (websites, email, databases) to multiple backup servers (at no
extra cost to the client) and simply purchase new 2U servers with 8
drive bays, slap in the largest SATA HDD's at the time, install
CentOS, setup RAID10 and use SSH / SFTP / RSYNC for backups. This
whole setup gets mirrored since one copy of a file on RAID hardware
isn't a backup. So, for every hosting package we sell, we need to
budget for 3x the storage (on the web server & 2x backup servers) and
need to keep costs down on this one. The problem comes with client's
who suddenly grow their storage needs and that particular server may
not handle the date, then we need to move the client's data to a new
server and tell him to use a new host, or configure his software with
the new hostname. It would be nice to combine these servers in one
large array and everyone just connects to one host.
3. I would like to move our virtual machines to central storage and
try and achieve higher uptime. I honestly can't afford a NetApp or EMC
for this, just to see if it works. Achieving high availability doesn't
just happen cause you have a nice expensive device. You also need to
prove, over a long period of time (without making a profit on it yet)
that it actually works well.
Ideally, I would like to stick to one solution / brand / vendor for
all these scenarios.
I don't like vendor lock-ins
I don't like solutions with factory fitted HDD's - if I need to
swap-out failed drives with spares that we already have, I want to. I
don't want to wait hours-at-end for a support tech to bring a
replacement HDD module.
I also don't like spending cash on high market hype. Sure, if a
product is good, it's good. But too many vendors / retailers /
suppliers hike up the prices due to market hype.
For now I think I'll stick to using bare-bone SuperMicro servers, and
then look at using something like Lustre / Gluster / Nexenta /
We use OpenFiler on a few of our current "NAS" servers, but it's
outdated and doesn't scale well so I need something new.
--
Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
SoftDux
Website: http://www.SoftDux.com
Technical Blog: http://Blog.SoftDux.com
Office: 087 805 9573
Cell: 082 554 7532
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