Comments on: The storage appliance, not the guitar http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/ the blog that is not dansdata.com Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:31:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: trentblase http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-918 Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:27:40 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-918 When I first heard about this, I thought it might be using ZFS (http://opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/) Maybe it does, but as the original writer mentioned, the price is absurd. ZFS is free, so anyone considering building their own NAS should check it out. It is utterly awesome. When I first heard about this, I thought it might be using ZFS (http://opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/) Maybe it does, but as the original writer mentioned, the price is absurd. ZFS is free, so anyone considering building their own NAS should check it out. It is utterly awesome.

]]> by: Cods http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-917 Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:45:13 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-917 After reading this and taking the time to post a comment or two, I was all enthused - and ended up registering for the Windows Home Server beta. Turns out that I (along with 4.6 million others, I'm sure) got an invite to play with WHS, and I'm planning to throw together a bitzenbox and install WHS on it on the weekend. I might as well take a look and see if it looks any good. After reading this and taking the time to post a comment or two, I was all enthused - and ended up registering for the Windows Home Server beta. Turns out that I (along with 4.6 million others, I’m sure) got an invite to play with WHS, and I’m planning to throw together a bitzenbox and install WHS on it on the weekend. I might as well take a look and see if it looks any good.

]]> by: rho http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-894 Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:51:32 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-894 Might be worth looking at <a href="http://www.openfiler.com/" rel="nofollow">OpenFiler as well.</a> It's a bit of a pain unless you have a Windows domain controller, or a LDAP authentication server already set up. But it's based on CentOS, which is a very stable distro; it has a Web-based management that's reasonably easy to use; and it uses LVM so you can make use of those random drives that computer enthusiasts tend to collect over time. Pretty much any computer made in the last decade will work. Overkill for the home user? Probably. But if shared storage problems vex you, this could be the sledgehammer you want to use. Might be worth looking at OpenFiler as well. It’s a bit of a pain unless you have a Windows domain controller, or a LDAP authentication server already set up. But it’s based on CentOS, which is a very stable distro; it has a Web-based management that’s reasonably easy to use; and it uses LVM so you can make use of those random drives that computer enthusiasts tend to collect over time. Pretty much any computer made in the last decade will work.

Overkill for the home user? Probably. But if shared storage problems vex you, this could be the sledgehammer you want to use.

]]> by: Bedlam http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-892 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:18:28 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-892 Of course, relatively recent mobos have RAID 5 built in, and with 6+ SATA ports on some models, the parity sacrifice is minimal. I built such a box for my boss using paltry 320Gb drives for a real capacity of around 1.2Tb. And with the 90-odd gig a month of "Linux ISOs" he torrents a month, he sure as hell needs it. A word of warning for anyone trying a similar set up - Gigabyte has some hilariously undocumented bug that means WD HDDs *almost* work on their mobos, but not to the stage of having a continuously uncorrupted and formattable volume. Oh how we laughed for the 3 weeks of trying to get it working. Of course, relatively recent mobos have RAID 5 built in, and with 6+ SATA ports on some models, the parity sacrifice is minimal. I built such a box for my boss using paltry 320Gb drives for a real capacity of around 1.2Tb. And with the 90-odd gig a month of “Linux ISOs” he torrents a month, he sure as hell needs it.

A word of warning for anyone trying a similar set up - Gigabyte has some hilariously undocumented bug that means WD HDDs *almost* work on their mobos, but not to the stage of having a continuously uncorrupted and formattable volume. Oh how we laughed for the 3 weeks of trying to get it working.

]]> by: corinoco http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-891 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:07:34 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-891 Speaking of NAS storage, I (stupidly) bought a Netgear SC101 without reading 'real' online reviews of it first. Magazine 'we won't bite the hand that feeds us' reviews all call it excellent. The actual forums rightly call this a piece of unadultered shite - then Netgear deletes your post. It's a nasty piece of crud that is now not even worth selling on Ebay. I am hoping, against all odds, that Netgear fix the bloody firmware / driver mess before PATA drives disappear. I'm not holding my breath though. Speaking of NAS storage, I (stupidly) bought a Netgear SC101 without reading ‘real’ online reviews of it first. Magazine ‘we won’t bite the hand that feeds us’ reviews all call it excellent. The actual forums rightly call this a piece of unadultered shite - then Netgear deletes your post. It’s a nasty piece of crud that is now not even worth selling on Ebay. I am hoping, against all odds, that Netgear fix the bloody firmware / driver mess before PATA drives disappear. I’m not holding my breath though.

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-874 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:02:11 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-874 Slightly broken links made more broken by heartless WordPress robo-fascism have now been repaired. -The Management Slightly broken links made more broken by heartless WordPress robo-fascism have now been repaired.
-The Management

]]> by: Cods http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-873 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:08:31 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-873 See! Would you trust me to build a server, when it seems I can't even use HTML properly? Ooh, that's ugly - sorry Dan. The links, for anyone interested are: - Windows Home Server Official Blog, Microsoft Technet - http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/02/15/the-death-of-the-drive-letter.aspx - Windows Home Server again, this time from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server - StaticIce search for the Thecus N5200 RouStor - http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Thecus+N5200+RouStor Cods See! Would you trust me to build a server, when it seems I can’t even use HTML properly? Ooh, that’s ugly - sorry Dan.

The links, for anyone interested are:
- Windows Home Server Official Blog, Microsoft Technet - http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/02/15/the-death-of-the-drive-letter.aspx
- Windows Home Server again, this time from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server
- StaticIce search for the Thecus N5200 RouStor - http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Thecus+N5200+RouStor

Cods

]]> by: Cods http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-872 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:03:06 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/04/11/the-storage-appliance-not-the-guitar/#comment-872 This look kind of similar to the way that <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/02/15/the-death-of-the-drive-letter.aspx">Windows Home Server</a> seems to work. Well, as far as I can make out, anyway. Perhaps it's currently cool to say that RAID is so, like, yesterday? I've bothered Dan a couple of times over the past year or so, looking for the NAS/home server that sucks least, and he's been very patient with my dumb questions, but so far I've yet to see something that is reasonably priced and is also decently specified, although perhaps I just need to increase my definition of reasonably priced. I wonder if a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server">WHS</a> or a product like the Drobo might fit the bill? Up until now RAID5 has been at the top of my essential features list, and whilst I'm yet to be convinced otherwise, it's still interesting to see two products like these coming out, both eschewing the RAID approach. Meanwhile I'll wait for the price of the <a href="http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Thecus+N5200+RouStor">Thecus N5200 RouStor</a> to come down a little. AU$1000-1200 is a lot of money when you still need to add drives! Yeah, I know, I could just convert one of the low-end boxen hanging around the house into an all-singing RAID6 server (next I'll be advised to run it under *nix), but as much as I like to tinker with PC stuff, relying on my tinkering for something like this doesn't leave me completely confident. Backups are great - but even better is having backups and never having a reason to use them. Cods This look kind of similar to the way that Windows Home Server seems to work. Well, as far as I can make out, anyway.

Perhaps it’s currently cool to say that RAID is so, like, yesterday?

I’ve bothered Dan a couple of times over the past year or so, looking for the NAS/home server that sucks least, and he’s been very patient with my dumb questions, but so far I’ve yet to see something that is reasonably priced and is also decently specified, although perhaps I just need to increase my definition of reasonably priced. I wonder if a WHS or a product like the Drobo might fit the bill? Up until now RAID5 has been at the top of my essential features list, and whilst I’m yet to be convinced otherwise, it’s still interesting to see two products like these coming out, both eschewing the RAID approach.

Meanwhile I’ll wait for the price of the Thecus N5200 RouStor to come down a little. AU$1000-1200 is a lot of money when you still need to add drives!

Yeah, I know, I could just convert one of the low-end boxen hanging around the house into an all-singing RAID6 server (next I’ll be advised to run it under *nix), but as much as I like to tinker with PC stuff, relying on my tinkering for something like this doesn’t leave me completely confident. Backups are great - but even better is having backups and never having a reason to use them.

Cods

]]>