linuxjournal.com— A terabyte-plus backup and storage system is now an affordable option for Linux users. This article discusses options for building and configuring an inexpensive, expandable, Linux-based backup server.
Nov 29, 2005View in Crawl 4
We did something similar in the apartment. Used a Gigabyte motherboard with 8 SATA ports and 2 SATA controllers on board. Currently, 4 are used with 4x320GB disks. After RAID-5, it is about 900GB. Also has 2 gigE PHYs on board. Total cost was ~$900, including the case.However, it is not clear whether the RAID-5 system is of much use, as there are many variables affecting the probability of multiple disk failures. Also be careful of heat issues, and use a power supply with adequate margin.I can also recommend OpenBSD's RAIDFrame implementation. It is really easy to set up and use.
Most older motherboards don't support large hard drives past 32GB be cautious when building your NAS boxes. You could go with another adapter card but there may be further BIOS limitations. =/
"Yes, I mirror all my disks, but I want the ability to pull a file from a previous timeframe."With OpenSolaris's ZFS (and FreeBSD and -- I assume -- linux) you can just take filesystem snapshots. Assuming sufficient disk space, you just write a simple cron script to make periodic snapsnots (and get rid of old ones). To get an older version of a file, you just cd to the appropriate directory. Voila. No muss, no fuss.
I can think of a lot easier and economical way.. a regular pc case with 4 250 drives, suse 10.0, samba and a 10/100/1000 gigabit lan.... that will run about $500 shipped.
crunchytoesNov 29, 2005
oh, and, like linux, OpenSolaris is free (as in beer). Great for home use.
zeromatrixNov 30, 2005
We did something similar in the apartment. Used a Gigabyte motherboard with 8 SATA ports and 2 SATA controllers on board. Currently, 4 are used with 4x320GB disks. After RAID-5, it is about 900GB. Also has 2 gigE PHYs on board. Total cost was ~$900, including the case.However, it is not clear whether the RAID-5 system is of much use, as there are many variables affecting the probability of multiple disk failures. Also be careful of heat issues, and use a power supply with adequate margin.I can also recommend OpenBSD's RAIDFrame implementation. It is really easy to set up and use.
fugitivalienNov 30, 2005
Most older motherboards don't support large hard drives past 32GB be cautious when building your NAS boxes. You could go with another adapter card but there may be further BIOS limitations. =/
crunchytoesNov 30, 2005
"Yes, I mirror all my disks, but I want the ability to pull a file from a previous timeframe."With OpenSolaris's ZFS (and FreeBSD and -- I assume -- linux) you can just take filesystem snapshots. Assuming sufficient disk space, you just write a simple cron script to make periodic snapsnots (and get rid of old ones). To get an older version of a file, you just cd to the appropriate directory. Voila. No muss, no fuss.
binarypowerDec 2, 2005
I can think of a lot easier and economical way.. a regular pc case with 4 250 drives, suse 10.0, samba and a 10/100/1000 gigabit lan.... that will run about $500 shipped.