Budget 41-50k PC as central storage function

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sushant9090

Recruit
Hi
I am planning to build a small central storage server for my small office, wherein 7 people will access the storage over network. A NAS with 6-8 bays is costing above my budget. I went through forum posts and found that vakarthik's query similar, and he's clear what he wants and he wants a Linux based PC for FreeNAS.
Whereas my office environment is Windows, and am planning to build a storage array that could handle 6-8 hdds, and have RAID 5 configured for redundancy purpose as most motherboards support RAID feature. Also a PC would come in handy as it can be put to use as a guest PC at times.
The storage capacity that am looking for is 8-10TB as we have lot of design data to backup.
I seek your advice on what all points to consider to build such a PC, and what would be ideal configuration for such a system. What Windows based NAS software can I use? Or can I do without it?
 
babhishek said:
if you have a budget of 50k, why not go for a dedicated NAS Product?
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For 8-10 TB, it will be around 30k for non-redundant hard drive space (around 3*3TB). If one even wants 4/3 RAID-5 protection, it gets around 40k. Leaving 10k for the NAS itself, which doesn't give a great NAS, especially if a lot of people have to use it and to support 6-8 HDDs.[DOUBLEPOST=1373984037][/DOUBLEPOST]
sushant9090 said:
Hi
I am planning to build a small central storage server for my small office, wherein 7 people will access the storage over network. A NAS with 6-8 bays is costing above my budget. I went through forum posts and found that vakarthik's query similar, and he's clear what he wants and he wants a Linux based PC for FreeNAS.
Click to expand...

You could do exactly like him if it fits your budget, and use it for windows clients.
 
If several people are trying to access the NAS - then using it as a guest PC is not recommended - and it is a major security risk.

Would suggest to get a G2010 + B75 + 8GB dual channel RAM combo, one SSD for the Windows Server OS and 4x 2TB drives for the RAID. You should also get a good capable PSU, and a very large cabby. If you can do NIC teaming for higher speeds - may be useful.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The 6-8 bays NAs from Qnap and Buffalo are beyond 50k and HDDs costs extra. So thought to plan for storage array PC.
@vivek.krishnan Thanks for your suggestion. So, an additional LAN card 'teamed' with onboard LAN can be done? Would a 450W Coolermaster be fine, I guess.
 
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That is something to be answered by those who know more in depth about NAS. AFAIK, Windows Server 2012 has link aggregation built in - so you can use two adapters from different brands maybe.

450W should be fine, I guess.
 
sushant9090 said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The 6-8 bays NAs from Qnap and Buffalo are beyond 50k and HDDs costs extra. So thought to plan for storage array PC.
@vivek.krishnan Thanks for your suggestion. So, an additional LAN card 'teamed' with onboard LAN can be done? Would a 450W Coolermaster be fine, I guess.
Click to expand...

450W should be more than enough but i suggest to get a seasonic PSU.
 
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Again, thanks a lot to everyone here for their suggestions, we're going with your suggestions. @vivek.krishnan My IT setup guy too has said that he can handle NIC port teaming. I guess you have helped us in handling a core issue for speed. :)
 
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Prefer having 2 NIC card's of 1 GBPS each and team them up.

Leave the onboard NIC separate for taking access of the device and doing administration and management/ monitoring without impacting bandwidth.

Little more cabling, much more peace of mind, else when your NAS is at full load, you may not be able to access it for admin/ mgmt due to lack of bandwidth.
 
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