Building a NAS... advice appreciated.

D

dotVIBE

Expert Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
3,075
Reaction score
4
Location
CT
Right,

So i'm putting together a NAS for my folks in a month or so, basic file storage stuff for the media server, the in-room audio server, my mom's photo backups and my dad's pc backups. So nothing serious, trying to keep costs down as always.

Now, they've got a rack housing the home automation stuff, so I'll utilise that for the chassis, thinking Codegen 4U-500, will run me about R900 plus R550 for slide rails and PSU.
http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203

Figure 3x 2TB drives in a RAID 5 config.
Will use the 3x 5.25" front bays for the 2TB drives, so in hot swap brackets.

Haven't decided what OS to use yet, but prolly something like WHS will be easiest.

Difficult picks are proc & board. Don't need much, can do with some advice here. :confused:
 
Get a cheapo M-ATX socket 775 motherboard, but make sure it has 4 SATA ports, and a Celeron processor. Heck even an old P4 would do.
 
Heck, when I said cheap I was thinking maybe an AM3. You think a Dual Core Celeron would work?
 
linux derivatives for this type of thing are more stable than WHS.

Try amahi.org and freeNAS. Or even Ubuntu with a some extra programmes.
 
freeNAS is a breeze. My first attempt at LINUX and I created an awesome NAS server with an old P1 and 3 x 200GB IDE Hard Drives a couple of years back.
 
Just some googling on WHS as I never bothered to look into it. See its based on Server2003 SP2. Interesting. I take it then you already got a legal copy of this with TechNet / MSISDN subscription then.
 
dotVIBE said:
Heck, when I said cheap I was thinking maybe an AM3. You think a Dual Core Celeron would work?
Click to expand...
Yeah sure, it just has to serve up some data. The new dual core celerons are actually really fast. AMD is also a great option.
 
dotVIBE said:
Heck, when I said cheap I was thinking maybe an AM3. You think a Dual Core Celeron would work?
Click to expand...

Only requirement is low power (heat & noise). Would recommend you use a seperate network card as onboard always seem to go when your not around.

Also don't put too much faith into your NAS. Always remember to backup so make sure you can easily access the USB ports (for external drive). One thing to remember on WHS is that it offers no backup facility so you need to use 3rd party software to do that.

If your parents have bandwidth, then look at DropBox for syncing important files (photos) and if its confidential documents, then rather let them use iSigned (http://www.isigned.com/). Never underestimate the value of the cloud.

Not so sure how you can do it on WHS, but the great things with a home server is setting up an exchange/offline IMAP server for emails.
 
For the bits:
  • go uATX: you don't need the hassle of a display adapter at any stage
  • DO get a DDR3 board, preferably with 4x RAM slots: it just makes (the option of) bumping memory up cheaper down the line
  • go cheap(er) on CPU: AMD or Chipzilla doesn't matter so go for the best bang for your buck ..but get some grunt, more on this below
  • DO get the board with the most SATA slots (at least 4, 6 would be lovely) you can find: you can count on needing to expand later ..it's inevitable! But, that said, you will have the PCIe 1x & the 'graphics' slot (really a 16x PCIe so perfectly usable by a 1x device) for drive expansion too. Which gives you a likely 6 MORE drives you can add via expansion cards.
  • do what you need to for the PSU now, 400ish W should be fine now, you can always get a bigger one should you slap new drives in there.
Now the fun bit, what to put on it! You seem interested in WHS - GO FOR IT! :D - seriously, it's ferkin' fabulous ..and this is still the Server2003 edition, from what I've seen the Server2008-based one (which will be 64bit only (hence the need for a 64bit CPU)) will be even better(er).
  • Here's why: first and foremost, NO RAID! So no futzing with drive configs, no stressing over different capacity drives, no incantations (or dark mutterings) about RAID config or *any* of that crap. Rather, you just add a new drive, go into the management console and select to add the new drive and the storage pool simply gets bigger ..and WHS then spreads the files out onto the new capacity.
  • Then, in terms of backups, you add the WHS Connector (and WHS v1 with PP3 supports 64bit Win7) to your client machines, and then have the box make bare-metal-restore backups of all clients - up to a limit of 10. Which won't matter for you anyway.
  • Plugins: these are 1. fun (from an admin-geek POV at any rate..) b. useful to extend your control and monitoring of the box and iii. open the door to linking with ..say.. home automation, etcetera. Seriously, it's not unlike the Iphone world in terms of "there's an app for that"
Thing is, you have to buy WHS and if, through unavailabilty of fundage or just being able to FIND one to buy, Amahi is the nearest the *NIX world has to a direct equivalent.

But if none of that shizness (and, yes hassle to set up, etcetera) matters to you hell, FreeNAS is enough to do the job! Or go horribly OTT and get Openfiler! :rolleyes:
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Just some googling on WHS as I never bothered to look into it. See its based on Server2003 SP2. Interesting. I take it then you already got a legal copy of this with TechNet / MSISDN subscription then.
Click to expand...
You know, you CAN (at least it looks that way) actually buy it ..from there all you need is time and data capacity to upate it to the required PP (Power Pack, as opposed to SP) level.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
One thing to remember on WHS is that it offers no backup facility so you need to use 3rd party software to do that.
Click to expand...
Has no backup facility of what kind? Because, in my experience, it fully backs up client machines ..well; I've seen that it makes restore images, I just haven't seen that tested as yet.
If your parents have bandwidth, then look at DropBox for syncing important files (photos) and if its confidential documents, then rather let them use iSigned (http://www.isigned.com/). Never underestimate the value of the cloud.
Click to expand...
This at least:rolleyes: is sensible input/advice.
 
Wynsam said:
Nice looking that, who supplies it locally?
Click to expand...
Cyberdyne Systems (from the 100819 price list (the latest available today)):
CODEGEN 4U-500-CA Rackmount Chassis (Excludes PSU) ex VAT R 786.50 add VAT R 896.61
CODEGEN 4U-600-CA Rackmount Chassis (Excludes PSU) ex VAT R 858.00 add VAT R 978.12
CODEGEN 4U-500 IPC Slide Rail Kit (Includes screws) ex VAT R 203.50 add VAT R 231.99
CODEGEN 4U-600 IPC Slide Rail Kit (Includes screws) ex VAT R 214.50 add VAT R 244.53
CODEGEN L-Shaped Elbow (4 pieces) ex VAT R 192.50 add VAT R 219.45
Click to expand...
 
bdt said:
Has no backup facility of what kind? Because, in my experience, it fully backs up client machines ..well; I've seen that it makes restore images, I just haven't seen that tested as yet.
This at least:rolleyes: is sensible input/advice.
Click to expand...

Backup of WHS server itself - as its based on Server2003 and what I can remember those days, the client side backup should be very good and very easy to setup. I'm rather out of the Windows now, so not sure if the client version (Vista/Win7) requires any extra software from MS for the shadow drives and backups.

EDIT: OK, bdt, you answered my questions in your orignal post - mind fried so reading ability is suffering high latency today.
 
Last edited:
bdt said:
You know, you CAN (at least it looks that way) actually buy it ..from there all you need is time and data capacity to upate it to the required PP (Power Pack, as opposed to SP) level.
Click to expand...

Only checked Tak2, so never saw that. I love LINUX but don't do installs or support for others so always like to see whats available to recommend when I get asked. R1K is very good (I know its DSP but not even MS-ZA cares)
 
Last edited:
cbrunsdonza said:
Backup of WHS server itself
Click to expand...
Ahhh, so *that's* what you meant! OK, fair call ..and, frankly, I don't know. But there's a damn fine chance there's an app for that! Seriously, the management console plugin system is luvverly.
... the client side backup should be very good and very easy to setup. I'm rather out of the Windows now, so not sure if the client version (Vista/Win7) requires any extra software from MS for the shadow drives and backups.
Click to expand...
Client-side setup is dead easy: you install the connector from the 'Software' share presented on the server ..that's it. One caveat: Power Pack3 for Win7 boxen.

Which vanishes when WHS2 (codename Vail) drops and, apparently, it can then act as a Time Machine target for the OSX crowd.
 
Last edited:
okay, convinced me with the WHS2 being able to act as a Time Machine. it's a Mac + PC house, so that would just make things too easy. and Dual Core 64 bit Celeron Processor it is.
 
Can one still use WD drives? I'd like to use some WD Green drives, but Western Dig. has got such bad rep lately.
 
dotVIBE said:
Can one still use WD drives? I'd like to use some WD Green drives, but Western Dig. has got such bad rep lately.
Click to expand...

I threw out all my WD drives (I used WD Caviar Green WD10EACS) and had endless problems with it. I switched over to Seagate and am running a 5-bay NAS (Synology DS1010+) with 5 1,5TB drives and have not had a single issue in the last 9 months.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X