[ale] NAS enclosure recommendations?

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi all,

This sounds like a consumer application so the following security issues may not be too pressing.  However, depending on the situation, physical security may be an issue; from kids (ie teenagers that want to play everything or toddlers that want to touch everything), pets, visitors, contractors, etc.

You may want a case where access to the physical ports and drives is lockable.  A closet or cabinet would also work with proper ventilation.

Also, while I haven't had experience with the high speed port options myself, I heard an interesting tidbit on the Security Now podcast.  Apparently both firewire and thunderbolt are dma access systems.  That means that anything plugged into one of those ports may be able to directly access and alter system memory, with the potential of inserting malware or reading critical data.  USB of any type does not have that problem.  I don't know about sata / esata.

Also, I've heard that esata connectors are notorious for being finicky and getting unplugged.

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Sincerely,

Ron



JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

>I use an external array from these guys: http://www.addonics.com/
>attached to a normal Core i5 PC, but mine is only 4 bay. 6+ yrs, ever
>any issues
>besides a loose SATA cable that was my fault.
>
>I'd avoid USB3 as the primary connector. IME, it has queuing issues. Of
>course,
>those could be due to the USB3 card or driver used. I've never had that
>issue
>with eSATA-MP.
>
>For a business, things get harder due to all the choices.
>
>
>On 05/11/2013 01:50 AM, Doug Hall wrote:
>> I want to build a NAS for a friend. I need a five-bay enclosure. It
>must have a
>> 64-bit CPU and allow me to add up to 16GB of memory. It'll be using
>ZFS, which
>> performs better with lots of memory. I'll probably need USB3, eSata
>and dual
>> ethernet ports. A low power unit would be nice.
>> 
>> Anyone know of and can recommend any such enclosures? The ones I'm
>seeing appear
>> to already be set up to run some proprietary system, but don't even
>mention
>> memory capacities or CPU specs. I want to use FreeNAS, of course.
>Thanks for any
>> suggestions.
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Ron Frazier
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