Easiest way to build a NAS server?

[klrgreenis]

Looking to make something to stick on my home network.

 

Thinking about using a DFI lanparty ultra d mobo and a decent socket 939 processor and maybe 512m or more of ram.

 

Would like to have 4 sata drive setup in raid 5 for speed/ backup purposes.

 

I'm guessing that to have a speedy raid 5 setup that I am better off using a dedicated RAID PCI-E card instead of relying on the onboard sata ports.

 

Has anyone done something similar and can lend some helpful suggestions?

[ReelFiles]

Definitely go for a seperate RAID controller.

 

Use XP for the OS, share out your drives and just let it sit there. You don't need a monitor or anything after intial setup. I just use remote desktop to connect to the server. You just have to make sure you enable remote connections and setup a password with that user acct.

[klrgreenis]

Thanks reelfiles, I also thought about trying out http://www.freenas.com or http://www.openfiler.com/ for the OS.

 

Any recomendations on a raid card?

[momoceio]

The absolute easiest way, IMO, is to use FreeNAS or NASLite. They are both Linux distros and their only purpose is to create network shares. I prefer FreeNAS but both are pretty good. NASLite is free if you use the floppy disk version (it loads the OS off of floppy disks into memory and the entire OS runs from memory.

 

Both use a Web interface to configure and manage everything.

 

http://www.freenas.org/

 

http://www.serverelements.com/

[momoceio]

Thanks reelfiles, I also thought about trying out http://www.freenas.com or http://www.openfiler.com/ for the OS.

 

Any recomendations on a raid card?

 

OpenFiler is another good one

 

Four drives running off of an onboard controller would still be plenty fast...it would saturate a 100mb network connection easily.

[uneedav8]

Any recomendations on a raid card?

 

 

An Areca or a Highpoint Rocket RAID PCI-E card would perform nicely.

[klrgreenis]

OpenFiler is another good one

 

Four drives running off of an onboard controller would still be plenty fast...it would saturate a 100mb network connection easily.

 

Thanks for the help

What about on a 1000mb network??

[momoceio]

A single hard drive would almost be able to saturate a 1 gig connection...

 

HDD speeds are in MB

Network speeds are in Mb

[klrgreenis]

A single hard drive would almost be able to saturate a 1 gig connection...

 

HDD speeds are in MB

Network speeds are in Mb

 

of course Thanks!!:beer

[uneedav8]

Are these software like FreeNAS,etc.....stand alone? So I can use an older desktop tower install this software an all I need is have hardware support for RAID to optimally use the drives on a network for storage? No other OS is needed? This would make it more like a SAN wouldn't it?

[momoceio]

Exactly, no other OS needed. It's a customized Linux distro and all it does is serve data to your network. They all support RAID as far as I know and I think they'll also do software RAID if you don't have a RAID controller handy.

[uneedav8]

I am curious how fast file transfers would be with a fast set of drives in RAID, one of those oreca 16x PCI-e RAID cards, and gigabit everything.......since there is no windows in the equasion.