[ale] Home Data Server Project

[Jeff Hubbs]

I've gotten to where I've abandoned RAID5 and 6 for drives > 750GB.

On 2/24/10 10:35 AM, Brian W. Neu wrote:
> 1.  I'm going to second Greg on the RAID 6 or 10.  I've been dealing
> with lots of RAID 5 issues lately and I simply won't let clients do it
> anymore unless they are perfectly fine risking the downtime and costs of
> restoring from a backup.  I too love the 3ware cards, but you might be
> be just as good spending a little extra on your processor and going w/
> md raid 6.  Also, why limit yourself to one partition?  I'd recommend
> using LVM to create volumes large enough for the next year or 18
> months.  Then grow the volume and the filesystems as usage dictates.
> It's almost always possible to grow a filesystem, but shrinking them is
> more challenging.  Always start small and leave plenty of free space.
> Oh, and why not ext4?  I'd skip the NTFS and just mount ext4 with ACL's
> enabled.  Have you considered LVM snapshots, or even btrfs snapshots if
> you have a rock-solid backup strategy?
>
> 2.  For Home Theater:
>      An nVidia card with HDMI that supports VDPAU for MythTV.  My card
> doesn't support it, and CPU utilization is high when playing HD content.
>
> http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/190.53/README/appendix-a.html
>      A tuner that supports CableCard, works with MythTV, and has multiple
> digital tuners (you might have to wait on this, and it might just never
> happen)
>
> http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/cetons-quad-cablecard-tuner-for-windows-media-center-gets-a-pri/
>
> http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/hdhomerun-developing-a-dual-cablecard-network-tuner-for-249/
>          http://www.gearlog.com/2009/09/hauppauge_to_sell_cablecard_tu.php
>      (if not sending sound over HDMI) A sound card with a SPIDF output so
> you can do a passthrough, and have an A/V receiver.  (There's a MythTV
> wiki entry for this somewhere)
>      An XFS filesystem just for MythTV, per the MythTV wiki (I have an
> LVM volume on top of md raid, which while not ideal, does the job)
>      A lot of patience, especially if you have Comcast.  If patience
> isn't readily available, make sure alcohol is.
>
> 3.  Don't overlook solid backups and the cost of implementing them.  You
> might be able to take an older PC (or even a dd-wrt router with USB)
> with a bios that allows for scheduled wake-ups, attach an external HD,
> and install a wireless card and ask your neighbor if you can work out a
> back-up co-op.  If your house burns down (and your neighbor's house
> survives, hopefully), or lightning fries all your electronics, or
> someone steals them all,  you'll be happy you did.  That last thing
> you'd want is to lose all of your possessions AND your business too.
>
> 4.  You're already doing it, but keep asking for help.  If I had done
> more of that on my MythTV venture, I'd have probably saved myself many
> hours.
>
>
> Good luck, and keep us posted.
>
>
>
> On 2/24/2010 5:54 AM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
>    
>> Also, you don't discuss raid setup.
>>
>> I like 3ware hardware raid, but its a few hundred $ or so for a
>> controller.  Mdraid also works but takes more skill to work with in my
>> opinion.  Regardless I'd avoid raid 5.  Use raid 6 or even 10.
>>
>> And how are you going to backup that big boy?  Think hard on that
>> because it will be a challenge no matter what you do.
>>
>> Greg
>>
>> On 2/24/10, Marc Ferguson<marcferguson at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> Hi Fellas,
>>>
>>> We're finally making some moves into getting a data server setup at home. I
>>> think I'm a little intimidated by it. I've built computers before and setup
>>> peer-to-peer networks (with Windows machines). I'm going to do it with
>>> CentOS, because I'm a Red Hat fanboy.  Any tips for me?
>>>
>>> Here's what we plan to do with the data server:
>>>
>>>     - Terabytes of information
>>>        - Wife's a 2d/3d artist
>>>        - Security camera footage
>>>        - HTPC content
>>>     - 2 storage partitions
>>>        - NTFS for the wife
>>>        - EXT3 for me and EVERYTHING ELSE
>>>
>>>
>>> We plan to store the server in the attic so it'll be connected wirelessly. I
>>> plan to get an 802.11n setup. Thanks.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Marc Ferguson
>>>
>>> Registered User #410978
>>> www.fergytech.com | www.digitalalias.net
>>>
>>> "When life gives me lemons... I make Linuxaide, hmm good stuff!"
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>>
>>      
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