[CentOS] Slightly OT: which hardware for CentOS file server (Samba, 2 To storage, 50 users)?

Niki Kovacs

contact at kikinovak.net
Mon Apr 12 15:53:55 UTC 2010


Hi,

The language lab from the local university has contacted me. They'd like 
to have a low-cost file server for storing all their language video 
files. They have a mix of Windows, Mac OS X and even Linux clients, 
roughly 50 machines. The files are quite big, and they calculated a 
total amount of 2 To of storage.

I'm not very proficient with hardware, meaning either I'm dealing with 
remote servers in some datacenter, or otherwise I install CentOS 
desktops on any hardware people throw at me.

Since the aim is lowcost, would it be wrong to install that fileserver 
on a no-name desktop PC with a 64bit processor and enough RAM, and then 
simply put 2 x 2 To hard disks in it, either with a mirroring RAID (can 
never remember which does what in 0, 1 and 5) or some rsync script 
regularly copying over the first disk to the second? Or do you have 
something more apt to suggest?

Cheers from South France,

Niki



More information about the CentOS mailing list