Filer server OS

[Brozz]

Hello,

 

I am testing some operating systems for a company file server.

Now does it look like Cent OS and Ubuntu are the best choices to make for a file server but is this correct?

 

What is your opinion on this and what would be your choice and why?

 

We are talking about a file server of about 4TB.

 

Thanks in advanced,

 

[porina]

Will the server have to do any more than just serve files? I'm wondering if you need a normal OS at all, and would NAS OSes be a consideration? Like FreeNAS or Unraid? That can depend on the usage performance model, redundancy, backup and data integrity needs.

[Brozz]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

Will the server have to do any more than just serve files? I'm wondering if you need a normal OS at all, and would NAS OSes be a consideration? Like FreeNAS or Unraid? That can depend on the usage performance model, redundancy, backup and data integrity needs.

It only needs to serve files.

I did not think of solutions like FreeNAS or Unraid, I will take these in consideration and do some tests with them as well.

[King_of_Oz]

I vote Ubuntu. It has the largest user database and support database. It also come in a server version.

[Chaz042]

5 hours ago, Brozz said:

Hello,

 

I am testing some operating systems for a company file server.

Now does it look like Cent OS and Ubuntu are the best choices to make for a file server but is this correct?

 

What is your opinion on this and what would be your choice and why?

 

We are talking about a file server of about 4TB.

 

Thanks in advanced,

1

FreeNAS running RAIDZ is probably your best bet, there's a large community with the focus being on file storage. If you go this route and use a software RAID like RAIDZ, you'll need about 8GB of RAM, 16GB ECC RAM is recommended. 

 

Also, I'm not against Ubuntu or Unraid, I've only used FreeNAS for storage above 250GB, and I've never used Unraid. Also, Ubuntu is a nice go-to OS for anything else in my opinion.

[Edelrat]

I can recommend FreeNAS too.

Once you get it set-up correctly, it works like a charm.

When using FreeNAS (or any OS using ZFS for that matter) make sure that ZFS has direct access to the drives. So either directly connect each drive to your mainboards SATA-ports, or use a HBA. If you were planing on using a RAID-controller flash it to IT mode.

[Ildiesalot]

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but would you guys recommend FreeNAS in a VM as well?

[Edelrat]

24 minutes ago, Ildiesalot said:

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but would you guys recommend FreeNAS in a VM as well?

Not really, since ZFS needs to have direct access to the drives. When running it in a VM, it adds at least one layer between ZFS and the drives.

That said, FreeNAS can run in a VM, but running it directly on hardware is better.

You could also install FreeNAS and run VMs on it.

[Oxydoreduction]

9 hours ago, MEOOOOOOOOOOOOW said:

Not really, since ZFS needs to have direct access to the drives. When running it in a VM, it adds at least one layer between ZFS and the drives.

That said, FreeNAS can run in a VM, but running it directly on hardware is better.

You could also install FreeNAS and run VMs on it.

It depends if you run it on VMWare ESXi, you can directly assign drives to your FreeNAS OS, but as said, it is better and runs also best directly on hardware.

[Oxydoreduction]

19 hours ago, Brozz said:

It only needs to serve files.

I did not think of solutions like FreeNAS or Unraid, I will take these in consideration and do some tests with them as well.

You have Open Media Vault also, depending on the size of your company.

Expanding the RAID if needed on OMV is easier than on FreeNAS but you also don't get as much plugins or the data protection that ZFS offers.

The community of OMV is also smaller than FreeNAS.

[dalekphalm]

18 hours ago, Ildiesalot said:

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but would you guys recommend FreeNAS in a VM as well?

 

18 hours ago, MEOOOOOOOOOOOOW said:

Not really, since ZFS needs to have direct access to the drives. When running it in a VM, it adds at least one layer between ZFS and the drives.

That said, FreeNAS can run in a VM, but running it directly on hardware is better.

You could also install FreeNAS and run VMs on it.

As someone who is actually running FreeNAS as a VM over ESXi, it's definitely doable - and it works pretty well now. Setup was pretty simple.

 

You must have an HBA (or RAID Card flashed to IT mode) for running FreeNAS as a VM, though, as you need to pass the entire card to the VM using PCI Passthrough. You also need to ensure that the CPU and chipset support VT-d though. Pretty much any server grade hardware will support this.