Selecting OS for File Server

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MorneDJ
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Selecting OS for File Server

Post by MorneDJ »

Hi,

I am building a second file server mainly as a server that can host large files (100 MB to 2 GB each) that is infrequently accesses, such as topographical maps, as well as a backup for the main file server hosting the documents we use daily. After spending a few hours (more likely a day) I am still a but unsure. I have ruled out Windows Home Server just because I want to move away from Microsoft, and I am left with a crapload of different linux distro's (never knew there where that many). We have 6 people working at our company.

I need to incorporate the following:
- Small installation. I want to use the HP/Proliant Microserver internal USB port to install the OS. This also resulted in ruling out WHS.
- Some redundancy. I will be dropping in 3 or 4x 1 - 3 TB drives. Speed is not that critical as I will only store the data files here (no documents or stuff, mainly jpg,s and tiff files). I thought of buying a RAID card, but considering the use, I thought of using something like software RAID 1 or even something like greyhole (http://www.greyhole.net/)
- For security I need people to log in. Because they log into their Windows PC's, I would like to use the same username/password. Admittedly I am a bit unsure about this feature, as Windows works so well here, and if it was't for the installation size issue, I would have gone with WHS just because of this. I believe that this can be done using SAMBA over a linux installation like Ubuntu.
- The PC will not have a screen so I need to access it remotely via my Windows desktop.
- I would prefer to do this myself.

Any recommendations on this, and am I on the right track.

Regards

Morné
I'm a right-wing, democratic, conservative environmentalist that thinks the spotted owl tastes like chicken...
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rustypup
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Re: Selecting OS for File Server

Post by rustypup »

debian would be my first pick followed closely by ubuntu...

both have proven track records and extensive package libraries and support.

plugging into the windows NTLM can be managed via SAMBA or something like likewise-open

you can test drive either from your desktop using virtualbox.. (NB! do not enable bridged mode while installing in the event you accidentally enable DHCP during installation.)

while you could use PuTTY/OpenSSH to connect to a terminal session, you would probably want to have a gander at Webmin
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Ron2K
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Re: Selecting OS for File Server

Post by Ron2K »

If building a pure file server, one need look no further than FreeNAS. Use RAID-Z or RAID-Z2 depending on the number of disks you are planning on installing (technically not RAID, but "a higher-level software solution that implements an integrated redundancy scheme similar to RAID 5/6", using the rather awesome ZFS file system) and you should be set on the redundancy side (provided you scrub your disks regularly). NFS is supported to take care of Unix shares; SMB/CIFS is also supported for Windows.
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rustypup
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Re: Selecting OS for File Server

Post by rustypup »

decent webgui interface as well..
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
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