jcd11235 0 #1 March 3, 2008 Have you ever gone to the grocery store with the intention of just buying a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread, only to end up walking out with a cart full of stuff? Last week I went online to order an external hard drive with a gigabit ethernet port, but ended up buying a NAS server instead, complete with Xeon processor, RAID controller and several hard drives. The primary purposes of the server will be to serve as a NAS and a network router. When it arrives, I'm going to need to install an OS and format the drives. I am strongly considering using ZFS as the filesystem, and setting the drives up in RAID-Z2 (defeating the purpose of the RAID controller card). From what I've read, ZFS appears to be the file system of the future. It does have it's shortcomings, but it is being actively developed, and features are being implemented fairly rapidly. Is there any reason that would make ZFS a poor choice? For the OS, I would prefer to use *nix/UNIX™ FOSS (No Windows HoSer for me!). The obvious choice with ZFS would be to use some form of Solaris (NexentaOS or NexentaStor, perhaps?), running natively, or in a virtual machine atop Linux. As I understand, FreeBSD 7.0 also has native support for ZFS, although I'm not clear about what kind of lag time there is between ZFS updates and their implementation in FreeBSD. Can anyone suggest a suitable operating system? Most of my computer knowledge is Mac OS X related, if that makes a difference. I'm not afraid of the command line, but I prefer a GUI, if possible. Thanks.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nathaniel 0 #2 March 3, 2008 Would you consider taking advice from a technical forum over skydivers? The ZFS NAS box thread over at Ars technica.My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madhatter 0 #3 March 3, 2008 Have you looked at Ubuntu?A VERY MERRY UNBIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! D.S # 125 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #4 March 3, 2008 QuoteWould you consider taking advice from a technical forum over skydivers? The ZFS NAS box thread over at Ars technica. Thanks for the link. I hadn't come across that thread yet. Most of my research has yielded threads from OS specific forums, which tend to be very biased in favor of that specific OS. OTOH, DZ.com does have its share of geeks, including one member in particular with substantial experience with FreeBSD. I'd really like to hear from those people, as well.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #5 March 3, 2008 QuoteHave you looked at Ubuntu? My reservations about using Linux without an additional OS running virtually is due to the GPL license restrictions requiring ZFS to run in userspace (if it has been ported at all, yet). However, NexentaStor can (only, at this point) be run as a virtual machine, and uses the Solaris kernel. I've heard good things about Ubuntu, but I'm not sure it is the best Linux distro for server applications. Having said that, I haven't ruled any FOSS out yet.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madhatter 0 #6 March 3, 2008 I'm a newb to this, so am also still investigating. Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ZFSA VERY MERRY UNBIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! D.S # 125 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
