[TriLUG] Re: TriLUG Digest, Vol 12, Issue 18

Anthony Luke Nelson tony.nelson at pobox.com
Mon Jul 19 12:34:03 EDT 2004


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>Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony (Glen Ford)
>   2. Re: Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>      (Jason Tower)
>   3. Re: Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>      (Glen Ford)
>   4. Re: Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>      (Glen Ford)
>   5. Re: Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>      (Jon Carnes)
>   6. Re: Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>      (John Franklin)
>   7. Re: I need help with Apache VirtualHost and proxy pass
>      (Rick DeNatale)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 10:02:37 -0700
>From: Glen Ford <gford at idiom.com>
>Subject: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <40F95BAD.9060202 at idiom.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>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
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:24:01 -0400
>From: Jason Tower <jason at cerient.net>
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in
>	harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <200407171324.01341.jason at cerient.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>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
>>    
>>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 10:26:34 -0700
>From: Glen Ford <gford at idiom.com>
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in
>	harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <40F9614A.5040500 at idiom.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>Stephen Joyce wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On Sat, 17 Jul 2004, 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
>>>   
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Glen,
>>
>>http://www.openafs.org
>>
>>It's not NAS, but then I don't think you'll find what you want in NAS...
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Stephen
>>--
>>Stephen Joyce
>>Systems Administrator                                            P A N I C
>>Physics & Astronomy Department                         Physics & Astronomy
>>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill         Network Infrastructure
>>voice: (919) 962-7214                                        and Computing
>>fax: (919) 962-0480                               http://www.panic.unc.edu
>>
>>"There's some joke making it around about some mathematician
>>that said that 1000 chimpanzees in 1000 years sitting at
>>1000 typewriters would eventually write the works of
>>Shakespeare. And the snap around the joke is that the Web
>>proves this is not so."
>>
>>              --- Kurt Vonnegut about the Internet
>>              in "Vonnegut's Timequake; All Things Considered,
>>              September 22, 1997; National Public Radio"
>>
>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>Stephen,
>
>    Did quick read of ASF FAQ.
>
>1. Do not get a warm and fuzzy about its readiness for primetime.
>2. Seems like more admin overhead than NAS. Of course me not being an 
>NAS expert does not put me on good footing. I would saw I am looking for 
>storage that is not O/S dependent and allows for ease of adding 
>additional storage.
>
>Will continue to read ASF docs to see if it could work for my needs. 
>[Storage that is: O/S independent, easy to manage, ease of growth]
>
>/glen
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 4
>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 10:37:22 -0700
>From: Glen Ford <gford at idiom.com>
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in
>	harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <40F963D2.5070201 at idiom.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>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
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 5
>Date: 17 Jul 2004 13:56:26 -0400
>From: Jon Carnes <jonc at nc.rr.com>
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in
>	harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <1090086985.3235.7.camel at localhost.localdomain>
>Content-Type: text/plain
>
>On Sat, 2004-07-17 at 13:37, Glen Ford wrote:
>  
>
>>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
>>    
>>
>
>Also take a look at the Snap servers.  These network appliances drove me
>out of the Fileserver building business. They are fast, reliable, and
>modular. Plus they have all the benefits that Jason mentions above.
>
>Of course, if you already have some hardware to devote to a Fileserver
>then building your own is the cheapest funnest route.
>
>Jon Carnes
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 6
>Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 17:53:29 -0400
>From: John Franklin <franklin at elfie.org>
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Any NAS recommendations: Linux & Windows in
>	harmony
>To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org>
>Message-ID: <BD1C0630-D83B-11D8-AC42-000393677372 at elfie.org>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>A few questions about your installation:
>
>1. How much space will they need?  How many users will be connecting to 
>it?
>2. What OSes are the client machines running, and what is the role of 
>the client machines/users?  What I'm looking for here is how intensive 
>will their use of the NAS boxes be?  Solutions for video editor's 
>rendering farms will be different from solutions for the secretarial 
>pool.
>3. Do they need backups?  What level of backups?  Weekly?  Daily?  Do 
>you need to be able to snapshot the NAS box every six hours?  Is there 
>a downtime where files aren't being actively modified when a 
>(potentially long) backup can occur?
>4. How critical is their availability/accessibility need?  That is, how 
>important is it that the system not be down for a day.  Everyone says 
>"critical", but there's a difference between "used while tracking the 
>101st into Falujah" critical, "Air traffic controllers are using this" 
>critical, and "my dentist can't bill clients without it" critical.
>
>I know, it'd be nice if it were all OS agnostic, but SMB is good for 
>Windows and NFS is good for *NIX.  There are NFS clients for Windows 
>and SMB clients for *NIX, but SMB was built targeting Windows and NFS 
>was built targeting *NIX.
>
>On Jul 17, 2004, at 1:37 PM, Glen Ford wrote:
>
>  
>
>>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
>>
>>
>>
>>-- 
>>TriLUG mailing list        : 
>>http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>>TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
>>TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
>>TriLUG PGP Keyring         : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc
>>
>>    
>>
Definitely take a look at openfiler.org. It's an opensource software 
based NAS that runs on top of Fedora




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