OpenFiler

[uxbod]

Would be interested to hear how people have used it ? Any major pitfalls to watch out for ? Is it possible to create diskless clients and boot from iSCSI ?

[Dirk]

I'm in the process of building a NAS for home (4 x 1TB) and I looked at Openfiler but I was put off by the need to purchase the documentation, which I found to be a little bit 'bad form'.

I then went and looked at FreeNAS, which is a lot more 'open' than OpenFiler and so far I'm very impressed. Have a look at it if you've not already ruled it out.

As for iSCSI targetting, I know FreeNAS will do that but my iSCSI experience so far is damn near non existant, sorry.

[uxbod]

Hi Dirk ... Thanks for that ... Out of interest what hardware are you using ?

I have just a single server at the moment that is sliced up with Xen, though I am looking at putting together a storage system in rack for home use. Will probably still use Xen or get some nice 1U. Looking at one of these for the storage side of things :- http://www.chenbro.com/corporatesite...l.php?serno=47

[Dirk]

I'm using an Intel E1200 1.6GHz on an Asus P5GC motherboard. I'm customising an old server tower case.

I did look into purchasing a rack case but I couldnt find anything that I liked for a suitable price (and I'm trying to build this cheaply)

I currently have a 1U rackmounted server for the firewall and a 3U IBM server running VMware for the zimbra server, domain controller file server etc; that's running too slow for my liking, hence the NAS.

I've put a good bit of research into this, initially I was thinking Drobo, with the lan attachment, but the price gets big fast, wheras reusing some old parts and buying only the really important ones, keeps the cost nice and low.

Nice case that you linked to though, similar to the one I was looking at, but the one I was looking at cost around £300 for the case alone.

[lovelord]

Hi guys,

have u solved in any way?

I've opened another 3D over here

Multiple Vmware Esxi Virtual Zimbra machine + Openfiler

[uxbod]

Dirk, how did you get on with OpenNAS ? My core systems are just about built into a nice shiny home rack and a new Giga switch should be finding a spot very soon aswell. So the final step will be to install the SAN. I am still keen on OpenFiler but the fact that a post to the forums (never answered) and to the mailing list (never appears) does put me off some what.

I plan on using a 6 drive 2U Chenbro case, a dual core Atom with 2GB, and a 3WARE (AMCC) SATA card to drive it all.

If anybody else has a suggestion for what software to drive it I would be very keen to hear

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by uxbod

I am still keen on OpenFiler but the fact that a post to the forums (never answered) and to the mailing list (never appears) does put me off some what.

Your threads, as far as I can see, were answered in the forums. There should also be no reason why anything sent to the mailing list shouldn't be there, if it didn't appear did you try resending it?

[uxbod]

Hi Phoenix ... Yes I tried resending it about 10 times ... even a test email. The archives https://lists.openfiler.com/pipermail/openfiler-users/ appeared to stop in October 2008 aswell.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by uxbod

Hi Phoenix ... Yes I tried resending it about 10 times ... even a test email. The archives https://lists.openfiler.com/pipermail/openfiler-users/ appeared to stop in October 2008 aswell.

You're quite right, they do. I don't have much interest in mailing lists (unless I really have to use them) so I wouldn't notice if they stopped arriving - which they did and I didn't. I've asked in the forums about it so we'll see what transpires.

What about your forums posts, weren't they answered?

[uxbod]

Yep just a pity the subscribe to did not notify me of a reply