Dave Mitchel wrote:
> I know this may not be the "correct" topic for this NG, however I have read
> with interest most of your posts for the better part of a year and now I
> need some ideas.
>
> I am looking for a "poor man's NAS"...I just can't believe that there isn't
> a unit out there, say from Linksys or D-Link, that has a configurable
> web-based RAM that allows you to add 2, 3, 4 hard drives and make a
> cost-effective storage solution! I mean, they have Linux-based
> Gateways/Firewalls and VPN's, why not NAS?
>
> Anyway, I've googled to no avail and was wondering if there is another
> solution that I am missing. Such as a Linux-based ISO image that you use
> old PC parts with some hard drives and BINGO, you've got a NAS configurable
> via web browser!
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> DM
>
> P.S. Email me for further explanation if I've not made myself clear!
>
>
Depending on how you want to farm the storage out to your clients, there
are lots of solutions available. If you just want a big storage array
farmed out as a big NFS mount, then you can use a machine with a few ide
or scsi controllers, and use LVM (software raid) to gang them together
as one big drive, exported via NFS. You can even gang multiple machines
together using iscsi if you like. If you want a sligly more complicated
/more scalable solution, you may want to look into OpenAFS, or some of
its alternatives like coda, or lustre.

HTH
Neil

--
Neil Horman
Red Hat, Inc., http://people.redhat.com/nhorman
gpg keyid: 1024D / 0x92A74FA1, http://www.keyserver.net

Hi Dave,

"Dave Mitchel" schrieb in
news:6A8Pb.32483$P%1.25645702@newssvr28.news.prodi gy.com:

> I am looking for a "poor man's NAS"...I just can't believe that
> there isn't a unit out there, say from Linksys or D-Link, that
> has a configurable web-based RAM that allows you to add 2, 3, 4
> hard drives and make a cost-effective storage solution! I mean,
> they have Linux-based Gateways/Firewalls and VPN's, why not NAS?

Because of the price? A simple PC suitable for this task is about 250
EUR (310$). Thats hard to beat.

Regards, Kurt

--
PiN - Präsenz im Netz GITmbH
Kurt Harders
http://www.pin-gmbh.com

Dave Mitchel wrote:

> I know this may not be the "correct" topic for this NG, however I have
> read with interest most of your posts for the better part of a year and
> now I need some ideas.
>
> I am looking for a "poor man's NAS"...I just can't believe that there
> isn't a unit out there, say from Linksys or D-Link, that has a
> configurable web-based RAM that allows you to add 2, 3, 4 hard drives and
> make a
> cost-effective storage solution! I mean, they have Linux-based
> Gateways/Firewalls and VPN's, why not NAS?
>
> Anyway, I've googled to no avail and was wondering if there is another
> solution that I am missing. Such as a Linux-based ISO image that you use
> old PC parts with some hard drives and BINGO, you've got a NAS
> configurable via web browser!

Well, you could roll your own with an old PC and almost any Linux distro.
How fancy you get, is up to you.


--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.

Dave Mitchel wrote:

> I know this may not be the "correct" topic for this NG, however I have
> read with interest most of your posts for the better part of a year and
> now I need some ideas.
>
> I am looking for a "poor man's NAS"...I just can't believe that there
> isn't a unit out there, say from Linksys or D-Link, that has a
> configurable web-based RAM that allows you to add 2, 3, 4 hard drives and
> make a
> cost-effective storage solution! I mean, they have Linux-based
> Gateways/Firewalls and VPN's, why not NAS?
>
> Anyway, I've googled to no avail and was wondering if there is another
> solution that I am missing. Such as a Linux-based ISO image that you use
> old PC parts with some hard drives and BINGO, you've got a NAS
> configurable via web browser!
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> DM
>
> P.S. Email me for further explanation if I've not made myself clear!
Quantum did with their "Snap drives". They charge way too much for them
though. I would buy a via mini-itx mainboard, EPIA 5000, 500MHz fanless,
network, usb, etc on board, two ide ports about $100. Stick 4 ide drives
in it and load linux and samba.