NAS/ Server for small Office

[HoralDuR]

Hello All.

 

I'm looking for a bit of guidance and help please!

I work in a small architecture office (about 12 users) that's running a bit behind on the IT side of things and we're starting to run out of storage (plus I think one drive is failing).

 

Right now were all on a Fujitsu Server that's running the following services for the office:

- Raid 1 plus an RDX cartridge for daily backup off site for the storage;

- DNS and DHCP and all that;

- all users are behind a company Domain with AD;

- 3CX VoIP software for the phones;

 

The spec of it are:

Fujitsu PRIMERGY TX100 S3 Server running Small Business Server 2011 Standard

Xeon E3-1230 V2 @ 3.30Ghz

16Gb of DDR3 unbuffered ECC

2 x 1Tb WD Enterprise HDD's in Raid 1 (I believe that the build in controller can only do raid 0 or 1)

 

Ideally I would like to get:

-  8 or 10Tb of storage with parity (4 of 5 drives)

- some form of SSD caching to improve the speed of the thing (we use CAD files that are small but we work at the same time directly on the shared drives)

- Backup system (that can be remotely done offsite)

- Some form of remote connection/ access to the shared drives for working off site

- Keep the 3CX phone system

- maybe keep the domain(although we could move to VM or Azure or the like)

 

Right, question time: 

1) Is it worth keeping the server and just attaching a standalone NAS separately to the Network or;

2) Make the server into a NAS with a good Raid setup and SSD's for caching and still run the DC and DNS and 3CX on a separate drive with the OS

3) Find a decent NAS box that will do all of the above (i'm assuming a large price tag comes with that)

 

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dougarooo]

So you've given a decent amount of options to go into this.

 

Your first priority:

5 minutes ago, HoralDuR said:

-  8 or 10Tb of storage with parity (4 of 5 drives)_

Especially since you just said you think a drive is failing. Please get a raid with parity. You don't need to be losing your data.

Remember, you'll need to sacrifice some of these 4-5 drives or put in more for that storage amount. I recommend RAID 6 if you can manage but RAID 5 works.

 

My recommendation is getting a separate NAS with more options for RAID types and more space for drives. It's decently expensive but I think is the best option.

 

If you can't afford that then turning your current one into a NAS might be possible. You list limitations with the RAID it can handle might be where you run into issues. That parity bit is very necessary in my eyes. I don't usually like having a storage server have everything to save space and keep relevant things on the top most server that has a parity bit in case one drive fails.

 

I believe this is the documentation for the server you have. If it is, you have 4 drive slots and your controller does say it supports 1/2/4/5/10. 1/2/10 in one location and 4/5 and a different one so it is kind of confusing so I can't guarantee that. So it might be possible to upgrade without taking that big of a hit to the bank.

[HoralDuR]

3 minutes ago, Dougarooo said:

So you've given a decent amount of options to go into this.

 

Your first priority:

Especially since you just said you think a drive is failing. Please get a raid with parity. You don't need to be losing your data.

Remember, you'll need to sacrifice some of these 4-5 drives or put in more for that storage amount. I recommend RAID 6 if you can manage but RAID 5 works.

 

My recommendation is getting a separate NAS with more options for RAID types and more space for drives. It's decently expensive but I think is the best option.

 

If you can't afford that then turning your current one into a NAS might be possible. You list limitations with the RAID it can handle might be where you run into issues. That parity bit is very necessary in my eyes. I don't usually like having a storage server have everything to save space and keep relevant things on the top most server that has a parity bit in case one drive fails.

 

I believe this is the documentation for the server you have. If it is, you have 4 drive slots and your controller does say it supports 1/2/4/5/10. 1/2/10 in one location and 4/5 and a different one so it is kind of confusing so I can't guarantee that. So it might be possible to upgrade without taking that big of a hit to the bank.

Woah. Thanks for the swift response!

 

I was actually looking at a 5 bay Synology NAS but I'm unsure I'll be able to run the 3CX phone software on it or if it will do a basic Domain Controller job.

 

I was thinking that If I could get a Raid Controller card that will do a decent Raid array, with a minimum of 4 x 4Tb drives (1 for parity), 1 or 2 SATA SSD's in a RAID 1 for Caching/ VM or OS for the rest. Stuff them all into the existing server and run something like FreeNAS or Unraid maybe, but again I'm not that experienced with servers so this is why I'm reaching out.