Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 12:40:38 +1000 From: anubis <anubis357@optusnet.com.au> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Data Storage Plan? Message-ID: <200405031240.38780.anubis357@optusnet.com.au> In-Reply-To: <012201c42ef5$6e682240$3a02010a@wcox> References: <012201c42ef5$6e682240$3a02010a@wcox>
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> Does any one have Company-wide (LAN) Data Storage Plan? > > My requirement are > PC Users: 50 > Users OS: Win 3.1, Win 9x, Win Pro2000, Win XP, Lindows, FreeBSD > > My plan is to take weekly backup of 15 PCs as well as company data > store/file such as Finance/Accounts spreadsheets, Administrator/HR > documents, Engineering's drawings, machinist's programs etc. > > I know only one thing that ...... > Data Storage Server OS: FreeBSD > Security Issues: How to Authenticate different users? (Need Ideas) > > Please give suggestion which application to use......... like, > shell I install/set FTP server, HTTP server, SAMBA, etc. > What kind of hardware to use? > RAID: ??? > IDE HDD: ??? (Is 200 GB enough) > Backup Tape: ??? (Tape / ZIP drive) > Motherboard: ??? > CPU: ??? > CD RW: ??? (Needed) > > Help me in visualizing my data storage server. Thanks in Advance. > > With Regards > > Ajitesh K One of the main thing you need to do here is ask the right questions=20 from the start. =A0The most important one is "What is my budget?" =A0 Everything hinges on that. =A0Secondary to that is "What kind of=20 redundancy do I want and how much downtime am I allowed?" =A0Thirdly=20 "How am I going to back it up and recover from problems?" Fourthly=20 "How much expansion do I want?". You can buy new or second hand to save some $$. =A0If money is tight=20 look at the computer auctions. =A0We bought an old compaq dual 450 with=20 a dlt tape drive and scsi raid for about $1000US =A0a year ago. =A0The=20 best thing about old hardware and freebsd is that it us usually very=20 well supported and still runs fast enough. =A0They are cheap enough to=20 buy 2 and use one for parts. =A0Compare this to the new gear we bought. =A0 $40000US for an IBM server and 500GBsan. =A0The tape backup solution=20 for this was going to be$10000. If you are looking for some kind of spec on a homebrew system Start=20 off using good quality brand name parts. =A0You do want raid. =A0Make=20 sure it is hardware raid and preferably scsi. =A0Use a seperate scsi=20 card for the tape drive if you get one, dont use the raid card. =A0Get=20 a server quality network card not a $10 realtek. =A0Get a decent board =A0 = =A0 like an intel or an asus or a tyan. =A0Processor wise doling out files=20 doesnt cause much load. =A0Get what you can afford. =A0Min 256MB ram get=20 512. =A0It will all depend on your budget. =A0 Think of the warranty too. =A0Building it yourself can be cool but some=20 manufacturers warranties are not so good. =A0They want to have the=20 part, test it then send a replacement or repair yours. =A0This takes a=20 minimum of 2 weeks from experience. =A0We have a video card in at the=20 moment for warranty and it is 6 weeks and counting. =A0Get someone to=20 build it that will forward RA parts or sit by and wait. We are a similarly sized company about 60 users. =A0Something that has =A0 worked for us is to make everyone use the server for data file=20 storage. =A0This simplifies the backup of critical data greatly. =A0 Looking at your clients above they will all work happily with a=20 freebsd fileserver running SAMBA. =A0You will want to look at the samba=20 documentation to make an informed decision on user security. =A0For a=20 start you could set up freebsd accounts that would authenticate the=20 workstation users. =A0For a fancier approach you could use open ldap. =A0 It all depends on your skills, money and how much redundany etc that=20 you want. Size of the =A0file server is going to depend on how much data that you=20 want to hold. =A0We have lots of cad data and the usuall kind of word=20 docs etc. =A0We survived for ages on 50GB but now we are up to about=20 100GB. =A0Your size will depend on how much data will be held live and=20 how much can be archived off. =A0Useage will double every 18 months. =A0 So leave room for expansion. Backup will depend on money and how many gigs you want to backup. The more you want to backup the more it will cost. =A0I priced a tape=20 unit to backup 100+GB. =A0It was going to cost about $20000AUD. =A0 Instead we went to removeable ide drives. =A0Dont just back up onto the=20 same one over and over. =A0Rotate them so you will need a dozen or=20 more. =A0Still cost us $5000 AUD. =A0The backup software will be=20 determined by the method you use. =A0Look at rsync, tar, dump, AMANDA,=20 BACKULA... =46or archiving of data I have found cds and dvd to be good. =A0We make 2=20 copies, on for the offfice and one for the offsite. =A0Number them and=20 list the contents. =A0Users can search the lists and then get the data=20 back themselves. Archiving is something that you should spend a lot of time on. =A0The=20 more you can strip from the server the less size you need in storage=20 and the smaller backup you need. =A0Costs for your server go down=20 dramatically. I never backup workstations so I can thelp you there. =A0Ours are fairly=20 static and if one is going bad it usually needs a reinstall of windas=20 anyway.
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