NAS appliances?
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Posted by kony on June 24, 2008, 6:01 pm
Please log in for more thread options >>Things get better with the commercially orientated units starting
>>around £5-600 but for that money a home user is probably better >>off with a simple machine for the task running approriate software. >>Use a Shuttle or Mini-ITX system is size and/or noise is a >>consideration. I have just such a set up here and it works a treat, >>with the added advantage it runs my Amanda server as well and so >>keeps extra traffic off the network. There's also plenty of scope >>for other servers as well, basically no limits as it has most of >>the capability of a general purpose PC. >
>For simple file sharing ( mp3s, jpgs, etc ) and storage, is there any >reason to eschew an old W2000 or XP box? >I could set up a Freenas box, but it would be relatively new territory >for me...whereas I can knock up a tweaked W2000 box in a fraction of >the time. > >Regards, Indeed, I still have an old Celeron (500-odd MHz) on i810 motherboard from Compaq or HP that refuses to die. I put a couple RAID cards and a GbE card in it, transplated that mATX board to a full tower case to hold 8 drives and it's never had a problem (knock on wood). For a basic NAS you wouldn't even need to tweak Win2k very much, for few concurrent users in a home use it wouldn't even need have more than about 128MB memory. For someone who doesn't have a spare old system for this there are a number of surplus sites that have reasonably priced systems including OS license. For example, http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=IBMNVPIV18-20B&cat=SYS http://clearancezone.directron.us/item.php?list=492 though I don't think OS being included is very important, on any hardware made in the last ten years one can just use a plain vanilla linux server install, not needing to try for some ultra small footprint FreeNAS/etc build. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by on June 25, 2008, 6:34 am
Please log in for more thread options > Indeed, I still have an old Celeron (500-odd MHz) on i810
> motherboard from Compaq or HP that refuses to die. =A0I put a > couple RAID cards and a GbE card in it, transplated that > mATX board to a full tower case to hold 8 drives and it's > never had a problem (knock on wood). > > For a basic NAS you wouldn't even need to tweak Win2k very > much, for few concurrent users in a home use it wouldn't > even need have more than about 128MB memory. > > For someone who doesn't have a spare old system for this > there are a number of surplus sites that have reasonably > priced systems including OS license. =A0For example, > http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=3DIBMNVPIV18-20B&cat=3DSYS > http://clearancezone.directron.us/item.php?list=3D492 > though I don't think OS being included is very important, on > any hardware made in the last ten years one can just use a > plain vanilla linux server install, not needing to try for > some ultra small footprint FreeNAS/etc build Thanks for the responses so far, but I had in mind one of the dedicated NAS units. This machine is going to be running 24/7. Andrew Smallshaw touched upon size and noise which is certainly a consideration but I'm very concerned about power consumption with the state of electric prices at the moment. Surely a dedicated unit would be lower than a full blown machine, and they can't all be truly awful? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Andrew Smallshaw on June 25, 2008, 8:03 am
Please log in for more thread options >
> Thanks for the responses so far, but I had in mind one of the > dedicated NAS units. This machine is going to be running 24/7. > Andrew Smallshaw touched upon size and noise which is certainly a > consideration but I'm very concerned about power consumption with the > state of electric prices at the moment. Surely a dedicated unit would > be lower than a full blown machine, and they can't all be truly awful? My experience of NAS devices is not exhaustive but as I mentioned in my earlier post I have yet to see a good one aimed at the consumer market. No one has sought to contradict that with their own experiences so it seems we have to make that working assumption. Your point regarding power consumption is a valid one one though. At the moment here in the UK 1 watt drawn 24/7 costs œ1/year in ballpark figures. If we say the lifespan of the device is five years then every 10W saved saves œ50. The mini-ITX systems come into their own here. A complete system complete with hard drive and optical drive often only has a 60W supply. That is a maximum requirement under load - idling ISTR I have seen figures in the 30W region bandied about. You can probably reduce that a bit again if as is likely the system is idle most of the time and you set the hard drive to spin down when idle - use a minimalist Linux/BSD system and turn of any logging for best results in that regard since many systems will periodically access the drive even if notionally idle, preventing it from spinning down. -- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Ken on June 25, 2008, 3:55 pm
Please log in for more thread options On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:03:41 +0200 (CEST), Andrew Smallshaw
> >
> > Thanks for the responses so far, but I had in mind one of the > > dedicated NAS units. This machine is going to be running 24/7. > > Andrew Smallshaw touched upon size and noise which is certainly a > > consideration but I'm very concerned about power consumption with the > > state of electric prices at the moment. Surely a dedicated unit would > > be lower than a full blown machine, and they can't all be truly awful? >
> My experience of NAS devices is not exhaustive but as I mentioned > in my earlier post I have yet to see a good one aimed at the consumer > market. No one has sought to contradict that with their own > experiences so it seems we have to make that working assumption. > > Your point regarding power consumption is a valid one one though. > At the moment here in the UK 1 watt drawn 24/7 costs œ1/year in > ballpark figures. If we say the lifespan of the device is five > years then every 10W saved saves œ50. > > The mini-ITX systems come into their own here. A complete system > complete with hard drive and optical drive often only has a 60W > supply. That is a maximum requirement under load - idling ISTR I > have seen figures in the 30W region bandied about. You can probably > reduce that a bit again if as is likely the system is idle most of > the time and you set the hard drive to spin down when idle - use > a minimalist Linux/BSD system and turn of any logging for best > results in that regard since many systems will periodically access > the drive even if notionally idle, preventing it from spinning > down. I'm using a Mini-ITX system. It use only 25 Watt. http://tekniken.se/docs/pcny30gb.html | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Andrew Smallshaw on June 25, 2008, 4:29 pm
Please log in for more thread options > On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:03:41 +0200 (CEST), Andrew Smallshaw
>>
>> The mini-ITX systems come into their own here. A complete system >> complete with hard drive and optical drive often only has a 60W >> supply. That is a maximum requirement under load - idling ISTR I >> have seen figures in the 30W region bandied about. >
> I'm using a Mini-ITX system. It use only 25 Watt. > http://tekniken.se/docs/pcny30gb.html Interesting. I had often thought about battery power for a couple of Epia based systems I had here, but they are running with the standard DC-DC converter that came with the (Morex) case whose documentation was none-existent. I see that here you are doing it with a special automotive unit which presumably has a greater voltage tolerance. Are you sure about that backup time though? A 75Ah car battery should theoretically power a 25W system for 36 _hours_, not minutes, assuming a nominal 12V. Something seems to be amiss there. -- Andrew Smallshaw andrews@sdf.lonestar.org | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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