[CentOS] settings up cheap a NAS / SAN server, is it possible?

[Sorin Srbu]

>-----Original Message-----
>>> A cheap server: there are many different values of cheap; it all depends
>>> on what you need it for.
>>>
>>
>> Yupp, break down the requirements into the following three options:
>>
>> * Good
>> * Fast
>> * Cheap
>>
>> Pick any *two*. You can never ever have all three. It's a natural law or
>> something. 8-)
>>
>Sure, SATA isn't as fast as SCSI, so I sacrifice that, but SCSI won't
>give me the same space (3TB) as SATA either. So, a gigabyte mobo + 6x
>1TB SATA HDD's + 4GB RAM + 2.8Ghz Core 2 Duo isn't too bad?

I think your requirements above fall in under "cheap" and "fast". Good in this
case is rather subjective, as SCSI is normally what you want for this kind of
storage. 

At work I initially started out with raided scsi-drives for backups and
file-servers whenever I could, but I've lately gone almost completely over to
SATA2-drives with NCQ-features. I get almost the same performance, at a better
price and the MTBF is normally quite good if you chose the right drive-brands.
This too is fast and cheap, although with some caveats visavi longevity. I
think however as long as you have some kind of backup-plan, this isn't really
an issue. With that said, I'd also like to mention we don't do tape-backups
any more. The data-mass is just to much. We use only online-backuping to hd
and rotate the used space as necessary.

What were you going to use this storage server for again? Some kind of
user-homefolder area, backup  or such like?

On a different note, our users at the dept' have available a Windows Server
for their homefolder-space. I run this on a low-end Fujitsu-Siemens Primergy
Econel 100-server, with 3x 500GB SATA2/320-drives in Raid0-fashion. The 3x
drives were actually more expensive than the whole server when I bought it
some two years ago. The CPU is a Pentium D at 2,8GHz and has 2GB RAM IIRC. The
price total for this solution was very competitive for us at the time in
Sweden, so you might maybe want to look into the Fujitsu-range low-end
server-line as well.

The Econel-series are as I understand it a sort of hefty
workstation-on-steroids with some server-features included, you kinda' get a
server-workstation hybrid. Look into it and compare prices, you might find
something there.

IMHO, the Econel is the best Good/Cheap/Fast-combo you're likely to find.

HTH.
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