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

[Rudi Ahlers]

nate wrote:
> Rudi Ahlers wrote:
>   
>> nate wrote:
>>     
>>> Rudi Ahlers wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>> This raises an interesting question. What do you do in this kind of
>>>> scenario? How do you upgrade a NAS / SAN with say 5 / 10 TB worth of
>>>> data?
>>>>         
>
>   
>> Nate, what EXACTLY does that have todo with the topic? We're talking
>> about a self-build NAS / SAN running on Linux (and UNIX), NOT a
>> commercial product
>>     
>
> Everything I believe. Everything is a commercial product unless your
> building the circuit boards from scratch. Your specific question was
> how do you upgrade a NAS / SAN with say 5 / 10TB worth of data? My
> answer is you build one that can be upgraded online.
>
> And the array I mentioned previously runs on Debian. The largest
> EMC arrays run on Linux as well.
>
> While EMC won't let you self-build their high end systems, there are
> other companies that sell SAN/NAS gear that runs on Linux that will
> let you "self build".
>
> nate
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>   
No, it's not quite the same thing. A commercial storage device is built 
in a such a way that the OS (normally on a separate HDD / PROM / flash 
disk / etc) can be upgraded with the suppliers pre-built patches.

We're talking about doing this totally from scratch. i.e, how to build 
one from PC components you have / purchased from a supplier yourself. 
This also involves setting up the software (in this case CentOS, but 
FreeBSD & Solaris was recommended as well). If I wanted a commercial 
product, then I would have contacted the vendors and asked them this 
question. And if you've been following the thread, you'll see that we 
discussed Intel & AMD, SATA, SAS & SCSI, software & hardware RAID, etc, 
not which commercial device works better and which don't.

It's nice to know what commercial vendors offer a way to upgrade the OS, 
but I'm not interested in a commercial pre-built product, I don't have 
that kind of capital

-- 

Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
CEO, SoftDux

Web:   http://www.SoftDux.com
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