Hi:
I'm looking for some advice concerning my specific situation for NAS/server. To be frank, I'm in the middle of some nasty family stuff - I don't have a lot of time or money to devote to home IT. Nevertheless I have important data needs and I need to do something immediately to repair some problems.
For decades I've had a linux server at home doing all kinds of things running ancient, cast-off hardware but I'm doing less and less on it. I still need NAS, backups, permanent mail folder archives (currently doing normal UNIX mail in my home directory but I'm considering IMAP folders), syslogging and a few other odds and ends - printing, DLNA/UPnP.
My existing server has suffered a number of simultaneous hardware failures and is hard down. There is a rebate + sale on at a local store and I have two 3TB WD REDs on the shelf. They are unopened and still in the return window while I try to make up my mind what to do.
Facts:
I am having trouble deciding whether to resurrect the idea of a linux server, or just get a NAS appliance. I've been doing some back reading here. Some thoughts in my head:
1/ with a server I have flexibility to customize, add new software, create backup schemes to my liking and run ZFS. I can use any disks and there are many recovery scenarios. Everything is "open" and I can find a way to access stored data no matter what happens.
2/ Would I run a linux distro and add NAS functionality, or do I run a NAS distro and hope that I can get a CLI and add/reconfig packages if required?
3/ A server could be cheaper than a NAS box but not if I go buy retail. I don't have time (either spare time or calendar time to wait to restore the functionality I need) to "watch craigslist" for that perfect niche system. I've read a little about those HP Proliant mini-servers and such things which might have a nice power/noise footprint.
4/ I worry about being able to use "old" hardware with 3TB advanced format SATA drives and GPT. My current (dead) server is an Athlon XP2600+ on Gigabyte GA-7NNXP (all PATA storage). Next in line on hand is a P4C800 Deluxe w/ 3.0GHz P4. I'm not sure that ANY of them could access the new drives fully. If they can access them, what about booting from them? Again, I want simplicity, not a showpiece for the [H] storage gallery. I don't really want two more spindles just for mirrored boot/OS. I've read howtos on running rootfs from ZFS, but that seems a lot less "idiot proof" when things go wrong and doesn't apply cleanly to all distros (I've been using ubuntu LTS). I could use ZFS on partitions (I think) and boot from smaller partitions on the reds if the BIOS supports it, but my reading indicates ZFS is better on raw disks. Been thinking about running with USB sticks for boot/OS but I'm not sold on that yet.
5/ What happens down the road when an appliance NAS starts to flake out? PC hardware allows expansion, swapping components, cases, power supplies etc... and retaining access to your data while it evolves.
6/ The Synology units, including their addons, seem pretty cool and well thought out. As long as they "do" everything I need then maybe it'll be OK. Anyone know if they will power down idle external drives connected for daily backups?
There are a bunch of pros to building a ZFS server, but if I need to start with all new components in order to use 3TB drives + a snazzy case to reduce the size then the affordability might be out the window.
Thoughts?
I'm looking for some advice concerning my specific situation for NAS/server. To be frank, I'm in the middle of some nasty family stuff - I don't have a lot of time or money to devote to home IT. Nevertheless I have important data needs and I need to do something immediately to repair some problems.
For decades I've had a linux server at home doing all kinds of things running ancient, cast-off hardware but I'm doing less and less on it. I still need NAS, backups, permanent mail folder archives (currently doing normal UNIX mail in my home directory but I'm considering IMAP folders), syslogging and a few other odds and ends - printing, DLNA/UPnP.
My existing server has suffered a number of simultaneous hardware failures and is hard down. There is a rebate + sale on at a local store and I have two 3TB WD REDs on the shelf. They are unopened and still in the return window while I try to make up my mind what to do.
Facts:
- My NAS needs are not huge but I would like good gigabit LAN performance
- I want simple, power efficient, compact and fairly quiet
- cheap, or at least cost-efficient to build (I am in Canada)
- simplistic "disaster" scenarios - I'm not a fan of proprietary stuff and would really like if you could just connect the surviving half of a mirror to another PC to copy if something happens to your main device
- I like relatively hands-off. I no longer get enjoyment from patching, updating, upgrading distro major releases...
- I like the idea of ZFS
- My favourite NAS of the moment is Synology DS213j or DS213.
- My favourite Linux distro is ubuntu (alternate install w/ no graphics), though I'm thinking about Arch.
I am having trouble deciding whether to resurrect the idea of a linux server, or just get a NAS appliance. I've been doing some back reading here. Some thoughts in my head:
1/ with a server I have flexibility to customize, add new software, create backup schemes to my liking and run ZFS. I can use any disks and there are many recovery scenarios. Everything is "open" and I can find a way to access stored data no matter what happens.
2/ Would I run a linux distro and add NAS functionality, or do I run a NAS distro and hope that I can get a CLI and add/reconfig packages if required?
3/ A server could be cheaper than a NAS box but not if I go buy retail. I don't have time (either spare time or calendar time to wait to restore the functionality I need) to "watch craigslist" for that perfect niche system. I've read a little about those HP Proliant mini-servers and such things which might have a nice power/noise footprint.
4/ I worry about being able to use "old" hardware with 3TB advanced format SATA drives and GPT. My current (dead) server is an Athlon XP2600+ on Gigabyte GA-7NNXP (all PATA storage). Next in line on hand is a P4C800 Deluxe w/ 3.0GHz P4. I'm not sure that ANY of them could access the new drives fully. If they can access them, what about booting from them? Again, I want simplicity, not a showpiece for the [H] storage gallery. I don't really want two more spindles just for mirrored boot/OS. I've read howtos on running rootfs from ZFS, but that seems a lot less "idiot proof" when things go wrong and doesn't apply cleanly to all distros (I've been using ubuntu LTS). I could use ZFS on partitions (I think) and boot from smaller partitions on the reds if the BIOS supports it, but my reading indicates ZFS is better on raw disks. Been thinking about running with USB sticks for boot/OS but I'm not sold on that yet.
5/ What happens down the road when an appliance NAS starts to flake out? PC hardware allows expansion, swapping components, cases, power supplies etc... and retaining access to your data while it evolves.
6/ The Synology units, including their addons, seem pretty cool and well thought out. As long as they "do" everything I need then maybe it'll be OK. Anyone know if they will power down idle external drives connected for daily backups?
There are a bunch of pros to building a ZFS server, but if I need to start with all new components in order to use 3TB drives + a snazzy case to reduce the size then the affordability might be out the window.
Thoughts?
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