NAS devices

[Tom Metro]

Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> ... it's really unfortunate that you have a preference for Linux as a
> NAS.  Because it's certainly not the best solution, unless you have some
> really specific linux-only application, or something like that.
> 
> In terms of performance, reliability, speed, backups, and every
> characteristic that I can basically think of mattering in a NAS, I would say
> solaris/opensolaris/ZFS would be the better solution.

In addition to the previously mentioned FreeNAS/ZFS option, there are a
few other blended solutions:

Debian user-space w/FreeBSD kernel:
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7295

Not sure if this would offer any advantages, like access to newer ZFS
drivers. (I doubt it.) Likely not production ready.


Debian user-space w/Solaris kernel:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3561411/Solaris-Kernel-in-Debian-Distro.htm
http://www.nexenta.org/
http://debian.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/~toncho/myblog/archives/229-Nexenta-vs-Debian-GNU-kFreeBSD.html

This is production ready, supposedly, and you can opt for commercial
support from Nexenta. Nexenta is an OS specifically targeted at the NAS
market. (Previously discussed in the BLU archives.)


There is also a derivitave project, which morphs Nexenta OS into a
desktop, by blending in Ubuntu user-space; not sure why):
http://www.stormos.org/node/4


I'd be curious to hear from anyone using the free versions of Nexenta.


And for the sake of completeness, eventually you'll be able to do
ZFS-like things with native Linux via Btrfs[1] and AFS-like things with
Ceph[2], which is layered on top of Btrfs.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs
2. http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7744/1.html

The biggest down-side to a pure-Linux NAS today is that there are
compelling features available in the non-Linux solutions, and the Linux
equivalents are still a few years off. So whether you go with a Linux
stopgap solution, or break with uniformity by going with a special
purpose OS for your NAS, it'll likely need to be completely redone in a
few years.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/