[ale] Build-yer-own NAS server

[Jeff Hubbs]

Pete Hardie wrote:
> 1) is this a bonkers idea in the first place?
>   
Not in the least.  We've had all of our machines, Windows and Linux, in
the house using a common file server for years and it is, frankly,
invaluable.
> 2) what should I look at w/r/t the NAS device proper (which distro,
> mobo issues, etc)?
>   
If ever there were a set-and-forget application, this is it.  I run
Gentoo on a Sockey 7 mobo with a K6-2+/550 (basically a K6-3 laptop
CPU).  There is a PCI IDE card with two 160GB drives connected.  The box
boots to a third non-RAID drive. 
> 3) what type of RAID would be suitable for this?
>   
RAID 1, 10, 0+1, or 5.  Much depends on how cost-effective you want to
be with your disks.  160GB was a big deal when I built my file server,
so I could only pop for two drives, leaving me with ~150GB effective
under RAID 1.  You *can* spread RAID 5 among onboard and not-onboard
controllers and it won't matter terribly much.
> 4) am I forgetting anything?
>
> TIA,
>
> Pete
>
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