Best NAS for Small Business

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azapi

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Morning All,

I am looking to buy a small NAS (Network Attached Storage) Unit, with about 1TB of storage. Can anybody recommend any devices and where I can get them?

Some of the features we are looking for:
iSCSI
RAID 1
User/Group shares


Thanks
 
Last edited:
azapi said:
Morning All,

I am looking to but a small NAS (Network Attached Storage) Unit, with about 1TB of storage. Can anybody recommend any devices and where I can get them?

Some of the features we are looking for:
iSCSI
RAID 0
User/Group shares


Thanks
Click to expand...

I cannot comment as to what may be available from local suppliers (all of the usual suspects) but have you considered perhaps building your own?

It should work out a lot cheaper imho.

Have a look at Freenas, or Openfiler!

Both of these are free Linux/BSD based distributions solely for the purpose of running a NAS server!

An old unused P4 system, with 4 x 250gb Sata drives (using a relatively cheap 4-port sata raid card) and running one of these free distros, should work out a hell of a lot cheaper than one of the "Official" NAS solutions!
 
RAID 0? For a business? Are you sure you read the right article on RAID?

RAID 1/5/10/6 is a much safer option than RAID 1

Any oldish and reliable box with sata ports and Openfiler (supports LDAP, iSCSI, etc) should work nicely
 
^^^ Seconded - especially FreeNAS.

Plus, it's open source, you won't get nasty DRM surprises with some NAS models :)
 
Can these DIY sloutions be used as a media server? Anyone got any experience using them as such.
 
Wynsam said:
Can these DIY sloutions be used as a media server? Anyone got any experience using them as such.
Click to expand...

If you mean being able to "play" media from them, then yes!

Lets say you have a Windows MediaCenter, or a box running MediaPortal ./ MythTV - you can access the NAS server the same way you would access any other box on your lan with fileshares.

At the end of the day, its just a dumb network share really!
 
What's the best RAID to run on a Home NAS? I want to backup my stuff (digital cam pics). RAID 1 or RAID 5 or RAID 0 + 1?
 
Agreed on the FreeNAS :)

As Ryder_JHB said, it all depends on how much redundancy you need. RAID5 seems to be a very popular choice, though :p
 
Yeah, RAID5 looks good.

Another question: What type of hardware do I need? I heard some people running a NAS using a Pentium 3 and software RAID. They are apparently getting quite good performance on these setups as well.

What will you guys suggest for a cheap setup with about 1TB of usable space?
 
Any old P3 would probably be fine.. These distros do not require a large amount of processing power, or ram for that matter... After all, its file sharing which is being performed.

I personally stay away from software raid as I have had too many bad experiences, but you should be able to pickup a sata/ide raid controller for relatively cheap! Also, probably cheaper to buy several smaller drives, than 1 or 2 large (expensive) drives.

Raid5 requires a minimum of three drives to be redundant, so maybe get yourself 4 x 300gb sata's, (one of which you will lose once your raid5 has been created)

I used to run a FreeNas, but switched back to Ubuntu as I needed to run some additional applications which was not possible on the FreeNas.

I have started re-using old obsolete pc's (I tend not to thrown things away, ever) and I have been amazed at all of the specialised linux/bsd distros available out there which are designed specifically with older hardware in mind....

Speaking with my Jawug hat on, we have been putting old Pentium3 boxes on most of our highsites!
 
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The_Librarian said:
@ Ryder - do you check for swelling caps on the Pentium3 mobo's?
Click to expand...

To be honest, I have never bothered... (I seem to have a rather large collection of old hardware) and have plenty of spare parts available!
 
WKJ?:beanie said:
True, true... Oh well, Ubuntu is great regardless :)
Click to expand...

Agreed 100% - I have two servers running on the wug, both run Ubuntu, and both run Zoneminder, ftp etc - so FreeNas was not an option unfortunatley...
 
Ryder_JHB said:
Where do you live again (think I may have asked you this already, but can't recall)?
Click to expand...

In the Roodepoort/Krugersdorp area (won't be too specific on an open forum :D) but in a valley so (according to the guy who owns WP) I won't be able to join the WUG without spending some serious money on hardware... Oh well, will join once I move :D
 
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