Building a new office NAS solution

Question

Currently, I'm in the process of specifiying a new backup / storage server.

At the moment, we have an ailing Netgear ReadyNAS, which is pretty good for some things, but has some big limitations, such as unable to bridge the NICs, and a dodgy unfriendly web interface that doesn't always like firefox, and Chrome.

Use Case:

Currently the ReadyNAS is divided into a bunch of volumes, and mounted via NFS on a seperate server. The server runs rsync scripts nightly and pull data from our webserver cluster onto the NAS device. It also holds a load of office data shared across a few users over SMB.

I'd quite like to be able to combine the backup server and the disk array into one, so that we save rack space on not having 2 units. I'd also like a linux box that has a known interface, such as snmpd, and will allow me to run zabbix agents on it.
The ReadyNAS is a linux box, running embedded debian, but doesn't expose a lot of detail, and we're forced to use the dodgy web interface.

For these reasons, I'd quite like to stay away from an appliance box, unless I could be sure that it was sufficiently "enterprise" and not just a high end consumer grade box (bad experience in the past).

For similar reasons, the Drobo and Drobo Pro are off limits. I've seen some very bad reviews.

USB storage cannot provide the required performance.

Firewire seems to be dead, unless you're a geek with a mac pro and an audio workbench!

• Total Capacity: > 2TB
• Multiple protocol support (NFS, SMB/CIFS, Native Apple [whatever it uses!], iSCSI might be nice, but not essential)
• Multiple Gigabit NICs (2 essential, 3+ would be nice!)
• Bond/bridgable NICs
• VLAN support
• 1 or 2 U, and Rack mountable.
• Direct support for a tape device would be nice.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me choose a new storage platform?
For the moment, I'm going to say that money is not the deciding factor, as long as the cost can be justified.
Within reason, anything will be considered.

Answer 1

To get the exact configuration you want your prob going to get the best results from building the machine yourself and using something like Openfiler or FreeNas as your OS. You can then configure the machine exactly the way you want it.

That said, there are obviously some downsides to this. You need to commit the time to building and configuring this, and perhaps learning about the technology. You also don't have a single vendor to complain to if it breaks. If you don't have the time or want the re-assurance of a vendor provided device then I'm sure someone who knows more about that will give you some suggestions shortly.

Answer 2

If you're interested in a DIY solution, you might consider using the Backblaze approach: http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-to-build-cheap-cloud-storage/

Answer 3

I've used openfiler with good success on centOS 5.x

Answer 4

We use FreeNAS for this very reason and it works very well.

You might also want to look at using a FreeNAS-mini appliance if your partner feels it's better than rolling your own.

Look here: http://www.ixsystems.com/freenas-mini/