NAS - Office File Share

[gspark05]

Question for anyone out there ....

I watched this video: 

It is a super cheap fileshare NAS setup! However there are a whole lot of review out there about the worries of software based RAID, no redundant PSUs (although the models I found have them) and a cluster of other concerns.

 

My office digitizes documents (like 10 people scanning files all day every day). I want to setup a fileshare like linus' where I can laugh when someone asks if I have enough space. I am going to use freenas and I am accepting the fact that with mechanical drives in a case like this I am going to have to replace the HDDs every 2-3 years.

 

My question: Why the **** does this cost what it does when a Dell or other enterprise system costs 400%+ more? Am I making a poor decision that will f' me later on? Is the headache of maintenance and the learning curve of the software to demanding (I am a software developer SP, JS, C#, Java ... but havent messed with linux much.

 

Please tell me that it is going to be fine as long as I am willing to spend a weekend learning the software and setting up the server or that I am incurring more trouble than another $5k is worth.

 

 

BUILD:

Requirement: Handle transfer of ~ 10gb per day (all transfers happening in batches between 6pm and 10pm) and never run out of space (theoretically)

Pre configed system (base): http://www.45drives.com/products/storinator-s45-configurations.php

Steps:

   1) Setup server in RAID 10

       Start with 4x 4tb and when adding more I will setup an SSD to act as cache

   2) Configure network share and mount as a drive to Windows 10 client machines

 

Level of Effort:

   2 days - weekend ... not getting paid so I don't care about hours as long as it is not during business hours

[brob]

Enterprise systems are typically built using extremely reliable hardware. In fact they tend to sacrifice performance in favor of reliability. They tend to have increasing levels of redundancy as the price goes up. They also have features aimed at eliminating downtime, like hot swap drives.

 

A DIY build is certainly possible. But the issue you really have to decide is your willingness to take responsibility for any and all problems that occur for as long as he system is being used.

[gspark05]

Understood. My company is a small business that attempts to deploy enterprise systems. I know that this system will require some maintenance, but I am hoping that it only require a LOE of 1hr/week (with most of the time accumulating to the life cycle of the HDDs). My employer had me build every system (including the four rack servers we use for IIS, AD, etc.)

 

I'd love to hear linus' or anyone else who built this, to tell me what the average LOE/month is for maintenance.