Using Linux as a file server

eddief1 said:
The best approach in my opinion is to implement immutable backups.
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TruenNAS: Backup Immutability & Hardening - Lawrence Technology Services

Lawrence SystemsFri, April 1, 2022 12:57amURL:Embed:How To Secure TrueNAS Core https://youtu.be/psVNn-JVT9Q TrueNAS Document on “Hardened Backup Repository for Veeam” https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/communityrecommends/hardened-backup-repository-for-veeam/ […]
lawrencesystems.com lawrencesystems.com

newby_investor said:
And remember to test your backups from time to time.
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Backup solutions like Veeam and Arcserve have automated testing where you can schedule spinning up an instant VM from the latest recovery point. XCP-NG has a similar feature but I think it does a full restore of the VM - this is the closest to an open source equivalent of the commercial solutions that I am aware of.
 
At home I use an Ubuntu HP microserver with 4x 8tb drives in a RAID5 zfs array, 16GB RAM and a 3rd gen Xeon processor. zfs is memory hungry, but I love its de-dupe features, which are essential for backup. I run URBackup which is free and adequate for my needs.
 
RonSwanson said:
At home I use an Ubuntu HP microserver with 4x 8tb drives in a RAID5 zfs array, 16GB RAM and a 3rd gen Xeon processor. zfs is memory hungry, but I love its de-dupe features, which are essential for backup. I run URBackup which is free and adequate for my needs.
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How is it doing on 16Gb? RAM, I couldn't get mine stable. I am suspecting the drive controller "SATA controller" Might actually be a motherboard problem.
 
10:10 said:
How is it doing on 16Gb? RAM, I couldn't get mine stable. I am suspecting the drive controller "SATA controller" Might actually be a motherboard problem.
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I've got the old AMD N54L version with 8GB of RAM and I can't say I ever had a problem with ZFS running.

At the moment I'm on a normal mdadm software raid with Ubuntu 20.04, because I wanted to run Docker stuff, but I'm considering the switch to TrueNAS Scale which is Debian-based but also runs ZFS underneath.
 
10:10 said:
How is it doing on 16Gb? RAM, I couldn't get mine stable. I am suspecting the drive controller "SATA controller" Might actually be a motherboard problem.
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My TrueNAS box (also a HP Microserver) has been running just fine on 16GB (ECC) for years - I have 3 pools totaling around 63TiB.

It's not the fastest thing around as it's hamstrung by the 2 core Celeron CPU but it's plenty fast enough for my needs.
 
10:10 said:
How is it doing on 16Gb? RAM, I couldn't get mine stable. I am suspecting the drive controller "SATA controller" Might actually be a motherboard problem.
Click to expand...
It does very well, may be due to ECC RAM, and /or the 1TB SSD drive for the OS. Only problem is when I run out of HDD based backup storage space, then it tends to get a bit temperamental.
 
RonSwanson said:
It does very well, may be due to ECC RAM, and /or the 1TB SSD drive for the OS. Only problem is when I run out of HDD based backup storage space, then it tends to get a bit temperamental.
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I will have a look at a second-hand server I suspect that ZFS isn't the problem but my old motherboard. Does anyone have any experience with a Dell PowerEdge R430.
 
Unraid all the way for me.

My HP Microserver has been running for over a decade now and serving 18TB of redundant storage.

The really nice thing with Unraid is you can start with one drive and mix sizes even so don’t have the upfront outlay you normally would.

I have 6TB, 5TB and 4TB drives in there now and just replace with larger as I go.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Unraid all the way for me.

My HP Microserver has been running for over a decade now and serving 18TB of redundant storage.

The really nice thing with Unraid is you can start with one drive and mix sizes even so don’t have the upfront outlay you normally would.

I have 6TB, 5TB and 4TB drives in there now and just replace with larger as I go.
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I did consider Unraid at the time, but I wanted something flexible that I could use for many things, like a Pihole server and Unfi controller too. I had my doubts whether Unraid was going to accommodate additional Docker containers and VMs. My memory and CPU was also pretty constrained at the time.
 
10:10 said:
I will have a look at a second-hand server I suspect that ZFS isn't the problem but my old motherboard. Does anyone have any experience with a Dell PowerEdge R430.
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Nice price, good value warranty, but remember to factor in the cost of a proper rack (if you don't have one already).
 
10:10 said:
How is it doing on 16Gb? RAM, I couldn't get mine stable. I am suspecting the drive controller "SATA controller" Might actually be a motherboard problem.
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Have you run the built-in diagnostics?
 
RonSwanson said:
I did consider Unraid at the time, but I wanted something flexible that I could use for many things, like a Pihole server and Unfi controller too. I had my doubts whether Unraid was going to accommodate additional Docker containers and VMs. My memory and CPU was also pretty constrained at the time.
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It’s very happy with Dockers and VM’s.

Don’t really use the VM’s any more but it runs about 15 dockers and they auto update and backup and everything.
 
Mzezman said:
Take a look at Carbonite as well, you’ll get much more value for money. I got an HP DL380 Gen7 for 2k
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Just bear in mind that these old servers are going to chow power. They are not efficient by today’s standards.
Similarly if something fails, replacements can be tricky to source.

If you are happy to live with those risks, they can be a great way to get good hardware cheap.
 
newby_investor said:
Just bear in mind that these old servers are going to chow power. They are not efficient by today’s standards.
Similarly if something fails, replacements can be tricky to source.

If you are happy to live with those risks, they can be a great way to get good hardware cheap.
Click to expand...

My server added 100-180w to my base load depending what it’s doing so not TOO bad
 
InvisibleJim said:

TruenNAS: Backup Immutability & Hardening - Lawrence Technology Services

Lawrence SystemsFri, April 1, 2022 12:57amURL:Embed:How To Secure TrueNAS Core https://youtu.be/psVNn-JVT9Q TrueNAS Document on “Hardened Backup Repository for Veeam” https://www.truenas.com/docs/scale/communityrecommends/hardened-backup-repository-for-veeam/ […]
lawrencesystems.com lawrencesystems.com


Backup solutions like Veeam and Arcserve have automated testing where you can schedule spinning up an instant VM from the latest recovery point. XCP-NG has a similar feature but I think it does a full restore of the VM - this is the closest to an open source equivalent of the commercial solutions that I am aware of.
Click to expand...
Yes XCP-NG is great, I have scripts that run that automatically copy my running vm's to a NAS drive, that way I have a full redeployable image that I can use. Works a treat and it is very fast.
 
I set up an ubuntu workstation as a file share years ago because we have windows 98 and dos machines that also need to access shares. thnk 10 years ago? still running fine.
 
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