New Network Attached Storage suggestions
#31
I bought a ReadyNAS NV (4 x 750GB) many years ago, and the thing has been rock solid. In addition to the file server, I use it as a bittorrent client. There's a pretty active community and customization options if you're comfortable in a Unix world.

A couple of years ago I upgraded to a Thecus N7700 (7 x 2GB). Higher capacity and much faster, but I've been very disappointed with the support levels. Nearly every time I've updated the firmware something has gone wrong and has required support to get involved. Good HW, bad SW.

Take the build option off the table for whatever reason, and I would go with a ReadyNAS 3200 or 4200 for a rackmount solution in the size range you're describing.
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#32
TeknoJnky Wrote:I hope you know that 10x 2tb disks in raid10 is about 9tb usable?

Yeah, my head isn't 100% in the game (fluseason), I meant 10TB space, not 20TB. But the chassis isn't limited to 10 disks (NZXT Whisper), I'll add on more SATA-controllers (promise TX-4 most likely) when I cap out on the built in and the case fits 10 3.5" and 6 5.25" (which can convert to 10 more 3.5"), so I'll be good. It's the expandability I want from the homebuilt system and the ability to keep pretty much all my storage to 1 largeass case.

Lots of edits, just a query. Does anyone know a good case that fits as many drives as possible? I'm talking over 20 (with the 3 5.25" -> 5 3.5" converters) total.

Even further edit, this is the conversion case I'm talking about: http://icy-box.net/en/pages/products/det...ectID=5595
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#33
+1 for unRAID. Just bought a Plus licence as I've filled my 2 data drives. You can use a cache drive with the Plus now, not just with Pro. Also you get to put proper user accounts on the smb shares so can stop the missus from seeing the pr0n Wink

Oh and when there are issues there's a very knowledgeable user community. If you're feeling daring the new v5 beta is out....

I've got SABnzb+, squeezeserver, mysql (so 1 central xbmc library DB) etc running on mine so does everything I need.
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#34
Praesten Wrote:Yeah, my head isn't 100% in the game (fluseason), I meant 10TB space, not 20TB. But the chassis isn't limited to 10 disks (NZXT Whisper), I'll add on more SATA-controllers (promise TX-4 most likely) when I cap out on the built in and the case fits 10 3.5" and 6 5.25" (which can convert to 10 more 3.5"), so I'll be good. It's the expandability I want from the homebuilt system and the ability to keep pretty much all my storage to 1 largeass case.

Lots of edits, just a query. Does anyone know a good case that fits as many drives as possible? I'm talking over 20 (with the 3 5.25" -> 5 3.5" converters) total.

Even further edit, this is the conversion case I'm talking about: http://icy-box.net/en/pages/products/det...ectID=5595

How much are those icy-box enclosures? You might find it cheaper to buy a Norco 4020 case for 20 3.5" hotswap bays with SATA / SAS backplanes for $325.

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=131

Or if you really want more disks, get an 4224 with 24 hotswap bays for $395

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=252

My media server lives in a Norco 4020 case - for the price, it's an amazing deal.
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#35
I have my 1TD drive maxed out, and looking to picking up another drive or a couple more, it would seem I should make the UnRaid upgrade NOW since I'll have a couple new fresh drives to work with.

then I can add my existing 1tb and 25gb drives to the UnRaid system?

-=Jason=-
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#36
boykster Wrote:How much are those icy-box enclosures? You might find it cheaper to buy a Norco 4020 case for 20 3.5" hotswap bays with SATA / SAS backplanes for $325.

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=131

Or if you really want more disks, get an 4224 with 24 hotswap bays for $395

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=252

My media server lives in a Norco 4020 case - for the price, it's an amazing deal.

They're not cheap, they're like 200 euro if you get them from the retailers but a friend can get them at 1/4 the cost, so won't really be a big cost.

I've looked at cases like the one you suggested, the problem is that they're usually quite loud. This server will be sitting in my office/tv room and act as a firewall and media server, so it needs to be quiet and not look god awful Smile
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#37
Praesten Wrote:I've looked at cases like the one you suggested, the problem is that they're usually quite loud. This server will be sitting in my office/tv room and act as a firewall and media server, so it needs to be quiet and not look god awful Smile

Well, I can say the Norco cases are pretty nice looking once you load em up with drives. I enjoy watching the lights blink as the arrays do their thing!

As for noise, sure - server cases can be loud, but I swapped out the 80mm fans with quieter ones I bought based on recommendations from silent pc (not even sure if they're still around).

Anyway - sounds like a fun project!
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#38
If you want an sucess story going qnap i can confirm it. Using my asrock 330ht connected to my qnap 809. The NAS is running solid for months. Serving all my hd movies and now running xbmc database on mysql and sabnzbdplus with automatic tv series download. Running multiple hd streams without even bothering the cpu. Automatic rsync to offline storage and so on, It's pure kickass combo Wink
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#39
I've got to throw another bone in the pot for unRAID. I'm running a test setup right now on the basic license, the only thing I need to put it into live use in my home is money for hardware. I've got it setup for a variety of extra services:
TwonkyServer (UPnP)
tFTP (I'm trying to get my xbmc clients to all net-boot)
Handbrake-cli + custom scripts
Firefly (secondary music streraming)
mySQL (still tweaking this, basically shared DB for xbmc)
CUPS (I have a jetdirect enabled printer, but with CUPS/avahi I get zeroconf as a second configuration ability)
Avahi (zeroconf service announcement)
Time Machine backup (still ironing this out)

Basically I'm building a home-server, but if you scratch off CUPS and tFTP, it's basically a media-turbocharged NAS
HTPC Rig:
Acer Revo 1600 /Tira2 IR rcvr
NAS: UNRAID
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#40
technojunkie Wrote:I've got to throw another bone in the pot for unRAID. I'm running a test setup right now on the basic license, the only thing I need to put it into live use in my home is money for hardware. I've got it setup for a variety of extra services:
TwonkyServer (UPnP)
tFTP (I'm trying to get my xbmc clients to all net-boot)
Handbrake-cli + custom scripts
Firefly (secondary music streraming)
mySQL (still tweaking this, basically shared DB for xbmc)
CUPS (I have a jetdirect enabled printer, but with CUPS/avahi I get zeroconf as a second configuration ability)
Avahi (zeroconf service announcement)
Time Machine backup (still ironing this out)

Basically I'm building a home-server, but if you scratch off CUPS and tFTP, it's basically a media-turbocharged NAS

I have a lot of experience with tftp booting.. i'm the network admin for a company that is all thin-client and all our clients do tftp/pxe boot.. when I first saw the work on openelec version of xbmc I knew that in the future I would probably go this route since the image is only about 70mb. oh, and I use unraid at home too.. Nod
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#41
And another satisfied unRaid customer here:

CrazyIvan Wrote:Add me to the separate HTPC from NAS group. I have an Antec 1200 (behemoth case but amazing cooling for many drives) Unraid machine that can hold 21 drives whirring away in the basement utility room. Its powered by an Intel Celeron 430. Currently has 8 SATA disks including a 2TB parity drive for 9TB of storage. The release of the ~$100 SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards that add 8 SATA slots was a great breakthrough for mega NAS's. Unraid runs SABnzbd, rtorrent/rutorrent and Sickbeard among others all through web UI's so remote usage is a breeze.

HTPC machines access the NAS over Gigabit Ethernet.

P.S. My Antec 1200 is expandable to at least 21 drives with some DIY 5in3 shelves
cheers,

crazyivan
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#42
After Alot of testing. I came to the conclusion the only time unraid is worth the effort is if you want cheap nas and don't know much outside of windows. It was way to limited. Proprietary software so your argue mercy of the devs. Uses an old filesystem that's no longer maintained. It's old. And locked down somewhat to only run how they want you to run it.

Ive had ubuntu 10.04.1 server set up for some time now. Rock solid. Fast disk assess. Fully saturated my gigabit network. Sabnzbd sickbeard and couchpotato setup with a 50gb mirrored array for pictures music and documents whith automatic syncing to my desktop so it's always backed up but still keeps deleted files for 7 days incase I do something silly. Future plans is to setup a dns server for the home network although net bios is workng well accross all pcs. Setup email notifications for the raid and get a ups.

Most of this can't be done on unraid and what can be done is requires alot of hassle and then doesn't work as well because your stuck with it running from USB.


Well I hope this helps people debating if they want to use unraid or not. Basicly yes it's acceptable if you want slow speed cheap nas. But no if you want well performing server that can do many things.
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#43
I'm a bit more technical than a lot of XBMC users, but using ZFS on OpenSolaris has been pretty easy for me. I know that FreeNAS has some (earlier version) ZFS support through the BSD port of ZFS, and that could be another alternative if you're squeamish about command line stuff (zfs is easier to administer than LVM or EVMS on Linux by miles, btw - I say this as a general user as well as an IT professional). With 12TB of disks with good redundancy and failover in my mid-tower, I can't think of any other cheap storage system that could meet my household's storage needs.

Also, it's possible to run extra software under Solaris through zones or VMs, so I can run iTunes and uTorrent on the same box without worrying about whether something taking out my Windows environment will destroy my data (they have limited access to my drives). Of course, it's possible to run Solaris as a VM under Windows with raw device access to the drives, but I'd rather run a Solaris box than a Windows box out of the sheer fact that Windows boxes occasionally need to be rebooted for updates while Solaris updates rarely require such measures.
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#44
ZFS FTW.

Starting to look for an alternative since OS is dead.

FreeBSD doesn't have the NFS/SMB flags enabled correctly the last time I checked.

The fact that most commands commands are simple, short and to the point.

My GF's server at her house I just installed ZFS-FUSE for the Movies/TV drive, it's only a single drive, and the only reason I did that is I want to know when the drive is failing and when I need to send a replacement.
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#45
joel_ezekiel Wrote:After Alot of testing. I came to the conclusion the only time unraid is worth the effort is if you want cheap nas and don't know much outside of windows. It was way to limited. Proprietary software so your argue mercy of the devs. Uses an old filesystem that's no longer maintained. It's old. And locked down somewhat to only run how they want you to run it.

Ive had ubuntu 10.04.1 server set up for some time now. Rock solid. Fast disk assess. Fully saturated my gigabit network. Sabnzbd sickbeard and couchpotato setup with a 50gb mirrored array for pictures music and documents whith automatic syncing to my desktop so it's always backed up but still keeps deleted files for 7 days incase I do something silly. Future plans is to setup a dns server for the home network although net bios is workng well accross all pcs. Setup email notifications for the raid and get a ups.

Most of this can't be done on unraid and what can be done is requires alot of hassle and then doesn't work as well because your stuck with it running from USB.


Well I hope this helps people debating if they want to use unraid or not. Basicly yes it's acceptable if you want slow speed cheap nas. But no if you want well performing server that can do many things.

The question was how to setup the NAS, not how to run a general-purpose Linux server. To replicate the advantages of the unRAID setup in say, Ubuntu 10.04 server, I would have to do the following:
  • setup each physical drive as a separate share
  • setup multiple sources for movies and tv shows (one to match a location on each of the physical drives)
  • manually distribute movies/tv shows across the separate physical drives
  • accept that there is no parity
  • maintain the Samba and/or NFS mounts manually or through webmin
  • Accept that there is no cache drive

RAID is a solution but not an equal one. RAID has several distinct drawbacks in media center environments:
  • It is difficult (or impossible) to expand an array in place
  • drives are not normally powered down because of the striped nature of most arrays

I had the same concerns about the unRAID solution before realizing that there were some fairly significant advantages in what they had designed. I would rather spend about $300 plus the cost of drives and the unRAID license than spend it with a lower-performance solution (hardware NAS).

Keep the other computing tasks on a separate server unless it is very media-intensive. It will be less expensive and more stable that way in the long run.
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