Server network storage advice

[BearcatScott]

My office currently has 8 people (could increase to 15) with a mix of Macs and PCs and we use a server with Windows Server 2000. We only use the server for filing sharing, our printers connect to the network and that works fine for us. We have hit the limits of space on our server (160 GB) and we are looking for more space to park our files to share. Our server is very loud so I would not be opposed to replace it. I have looked at adding a NAS to our network but have been scared by the reports of slow speeds. We work with large Word and Powerpoint files (up to 100MB) so we need fast write speeds. So I'm asking advice on what is the best thing for us to do. I could just hang external hard drives on the network with RJ45 connections like WD My World Book, which we currently have one connected. I would like to have 2TB with a 2TB backup capability. Remote access would be great too as we have two people offsite who would like to access the files. I have tried a VPN with very sporadic results (Netgear 318 router). Sorry for the long post but wanted to give as much info as I could. Any advice is welcomed!

 

[Dave90000]

Build 2 servers with raid arrays in both. Use 1 for your main server and 1 for backup files. Put gigabit ethernet in the office with a highend linksys or a mid level cisco router.

With todays increase in drive size 2TB is easy to accomplish in either raid5 or raid10.

If you turn write caching on in the arrays it will speed up transfer speed a lot but you MUST have enough battery backup and or external power to prevent a power off shuitdown. If the array is shutdown without being able to clear the write cache you will suffer data corruption.

 

[BearcatScott]

Thanks, Dave, but I'm not sure I want to spring for two servers. I'm trying to do this somewhat on the cheap but I suppose I would be alright with spending up to $1k, maybe a little more.

 

[Apprentice]

Look at using Thecus NAS server. I have one setup with 4 1.5TB dirves in it. I setup the drives in a Raid 10 for speed and protection. I have it in a office of around 25 people. I have not noticed any lack of file access speed. You can do this for right around 1K or less if you shop around for the drives. The one I am using for the small office is the N4100PRO. I use it with the iSCSI volume on a Windows 2003 R2 server. You really should check them out. Thecus NAS ( Network attached storage ) - Storage server Leader; RAID, iSCSI Expert

 

[diogen]

...I would be alright with spending up to $1k, maybe a little more.

LaCie's Windows Home Server-powered 5big Backup Server now shipping for big money -- Engadget

Diogen.

 

[navychop]

NAS has been a bit slow for me, but I'm definitely doing things on the cheap. I have a SBS2003 right at 90% HDD usage, and have offloaded everything I can to an EHD. At home, I run my backups directly to an EHD on the network.

Curious - how old is your server?

 

[mike123abc]

I have 2 of the thecus N7700pros set up. I use raid 6 they can actually sustain 90MB/sec raid 6 writing (with 7 drives) if you can feed them that fast. Reading saturates the Gbit ethernet, but they do have a slot to put in a 10GBit card if you have the setup for it. Plus they have 2 Gbit interfaces you can pair if you have the setup for that. They are a bit pricey though at $1100 or so plus disks, if you add 7 2TB disks for 10TB raid 6 you are pushing $2k. Of course then you have to back it up.

They have smaller models if these are too big.

Remember a raid is not a backup. You will need to backup your files too.

 

[BearcatScott]

My current server is about 5 years old. We don't need huge throughput. Typically what we do is write reports or presentations with many high resolution pictures and the file file sizes get pretty big. So one person will open a Word file and work on that for a few hours while someone else may be working on a presentation. We always open the file from the server so the latest version is saved to the server. I'm looking for 2TB of storage with 2TB of backup. I am not a networking expert so I don't understand all of the RAID options. I think I want RAID 5 but then I think you need 3 drives for that. Never heard of RAID 6 or 10 before. I will also have EHD backups which I keep in a safe in case of fire or whatever. I do like the flexibility of having accounts on the server. I have files in a Private folder that the rest of the staff doesn't need to see and I would like to keep that flexibility.

 

[wallyhts]

I am a big fan of 3ware.

You could try 9650sx (if you have pci-x)

9550sx will work with 32/64 bit pci

Raid 5 three drives or four for a hot spare.

:upCheap choice would clone your current drive to larger drive.

 

[BearcatScott]

Thought of cloning current drive but I believe the box can only handle 2 500GB drives, which doesn't help me too much.

 

[harshness]

NAS is the order of the day for backup on small systems. I use a Buffalo 1TB mirrored NAS located in a different building. Incremental backups during the week and maybe full backups on the weekends.

I can't stress how important a tool that incremental backups are for file servers. Not so great for applications servers, but that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[navychop]

My current server is about 5 years old.....

Seems odd that you did not put the most current server OS on your machine when you got it. Any particular reason for that?

 

[harshness]

Seems odd that you did not put the most current server OS on your machine when you got it. Any particular reason for that?

In my experience it has been because the applications people don't manage to migrate to a "current" version of Windows Server until it has been around for a few years. The penalty for jumping too soon can be very high given Microsoft's penchant for wholesale change for the sake of change.

 

[Apprentice]

3Ware is some awesome stuff. Good through put ect... can get a little pricey for a small office on the cheap. I am still standing by the smaller Thecus box. good through put and easy to setup. Since you are working on files for a longer period of time. I really doubt you would be upset with it.

 

[mike123abc]

I do not like using raids in PCs (motherboard bios raid) since it is too easy to mess up, and your raid is rendered useless. Perhaps a raid add in card would be more reliable but I have not tried since you can buy a raid NAS.

I like raid 6 over raid 5 since with raid 6 you can have 2 drive failures before you lose the array. Essentially what happens if a drive goes out when you are away? How long is it going to be before you get back and get a replacement and rebuild the array. During that whole time you are faced with the possibility that another drive could go out and all data is lost.

When building an array I buy the same drive from different sources to try to at least get different batches. So, hopefully drive failures are more spread out.

My NASes all email me when there is an issue.

For important company data I use Amazon.com's S3 service via jungledisk.com backup.

If it is for a workplace just have to view how spending $1500-2000 to get a good fast raid 6 environment with spare drives to autobuild a replacement verses the amount of work lost even even a day goes by without file access.

 

[navychop]

.... The penalty for jumping too soon can be very high given Microsoft's penchant for wholesale change for the sake of change.

You speak truth.


I still haven't figured out how to get the number of inches down the page you are in Word 2007. 2003 was an all around better product.

 

[Jared Twomey]

Data Robotics, Inc. | Drobo FS - It's All About Sharing

 

[BearcatScott]

I have been looking at the Drobo FS but am worried about speed. A dark horse in the race now is Mac Mini Server. Costs around $950 if you shop around and it appears to do a lot of things I want besides file sharing including VPN, calendar sharing, and user accounts. Anyone with experience with this server?