[TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony

[Glen Ford]

Jason Tower wrote:

>i use NAS all the time, with all kinds of clients.  however, i don't buy 
>pre-made NAS devices, i just roll my own using a PC, large hard drives, 
>and linux.  inexpensive, fully serviceable, fast, powerful, flexible, 
>and (relatively) easy to administer.
>
>for example, one of my clients has a linux server essentially operating 
>as a NAS device.  it uses samba, netatalk, and nfs to let PCs, macs, 
>and linux hosts all access and share the same files and directories.  
>three client OSes, three protocols, one server.
>
>logically grouping seperate NAS devices is probably gonna be a little 
>tricky without some kind of global file system, i'm not going to touch 
>that here.  however using LVM you can add disks to an existing linux 
>NAS device to quickly and easily to increase your capacity.  just make 
>sure you use LVM on top of RAID (either hardware or software) unless 
>you're feeling mighty lucky.
>
>if you're interested, i'll be happy to build you something :-)
>
>jason
>
>On Saturday 17 July 2004 13:02, Glen Ford wrote:
>  
>
>>Anyone on the list have any practical experiences with using NAS with
>>Linux and Widows clients?
>>I have been reading vendor write-ups  and am now looking for someone
>>real life experiences with buying/installing/administering.... NAS
>>for a Linux/Windoz environment.
>>Also is there a way to logically group NAS units?  Say I have 3 units
>>@ 1TB each; Can I logically group these to create a mount point that
>>has 3TB?
>>
>>
>>Thanks,
>>/glen
>>    
>>
Jason,

    I like your idea of buiding my own. I will need to do the math to 
see if it is worth my time(client's) to do so. I will use something like 
http://www.excelmeridian.com/products/nas_datanas_dir/dndir_2u.shtml
as guide to pricing out h/w

Ease of management/security is also consideration. The commerial NAS's 
often speak of a web interface. Again cost diff betwen buying and building.

will continue to read/learn about NAS.

/glen