[ale] NAS recommendations

[Ken Cochran]

See interspersed...

> Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
> From: Vernard Martin <vernard at gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2017 19:38:16 -0400
> Subject: Re: [ale] NAS recommendations
>
> On 6/15/2017 9:29 AM, Ken Cochran wrote:
> > Any ALEr Words of Wisdom wrt desktop NAS?
> > Looking for something appropriate for, but not limited to, photography.
> > Some years ago Drobo demoed at (I think) AUUG.  (Might've been ALE.)
> > Was kinda nifty for the time but I'm sure things have improved since.
> > Synology?  QNAP?
> > Build something myself?  JBOD?
> > Looks like they all running Linux inside these days.
> > Rackmount ones look lots more expensive.
> > Ideas?  What to look for?  Stay away from?  Thanks, Ken
>
> You said "photography" but that isn't enough information really. What is
> your workflow? What speeds do you expect for access? What is your backup
> scheme? How much risk are you willing to tolerate with respect to loss
> of access, loss of data, loss of time (in maintenance).

Photography - storage of lots of files, anywhere from a few
10s of k to several 10s of m bytes each.
Access speed - faster than, say, USB but "bus" speed probably overkill.
Workflow is always a "work in progress" - things start with,
say, a few hundred mb but Growth Happens & that few hundred mb
hits 10s of Gb & on to 100s of Gb & onward...  So it becomes
"how much do I need to work with at a time?  And that varies...
Backup scheme - needs further research...

> You've gotten some VERY good answers so far but I think everybody has

Indeed, and it turns out to be a much bigger subject than I
had originally anticipated.

> just been giving them based on their own use cases. YOUR use case will
> probably end up defining what the best options are for you. Its all
> about the use case.

Definitely need to find more FMs to RT :).

> When it comes to NAS appliances, I've been a solid synology person for a
> while now. I have seen the Drobo units have issues with the default
> spin-up/spin-down time on drives and having them go to sleep too much
> when you aren't using them. Especially if you use them for iSCSI *shudder*.

Synology & Drobo seem pretty popular among Pro photographers {shrug}.

> As far as build your own. FreeNas or Nas4Free are the quick and dirty
> solutions. Nas4Free does ZFS quite well if I recall.

Build-your-own looks really nice & FreeNAS & NAS4Free &
especially ZFS might just be the current Gold Standard but
again, lots of FMs to locate & RT.  :)

> hope this helps.
>
> V

Very helpful & lots of good answers from here at ALE - people
who "live there."  Knew there would be.  :)  -kc