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Tuesday, 23 May 2006 23:19 |
 Presentation
Openfiler is a powerful, intuitive browser-based network
storage software distribution. Openfiler delivers file-based Network
Attached Storage and block-based Storage Area Networking in a single
framework.
Openfiler sits atop of CentOS Linux (which is derived from sources freely
provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux
vendor). It is distributed as a stand-alone Linux distribution. The entire
software stack interfaces with third-party software that is all open
source.
Status:
stable, in development
# Developers: __
| homepage |
www.openfiler.com |
| version |
1.1.1
stable (2005)
2.0beta (2006) |
| Based
on |
CentOS
Linux |
| Support |
- NFS,
- SMB/CIFS,
- HTTP/WebDAV
- FTP
- more
|
| Network
directories support |
- NIS, LDAP (with support for SMB/CIFS encrypted
passwords)
- Active
Directory
- Hesiod
- Kerberos 5.
- more
|
| Software
Raid |
0,1,5,6 |
| Hardware
Raid |
yes
if supported by CentOS |
| Interface |
Web
interface, PHP scripts |
| Size |
4GB |
| Can
be installed |
On
hard disk only because of its size |
| File system |
UFS,
FAT32, EXT2/EXT3, NTFS (limited read-only) |
| HardDrive |
ATA/SATA,
SCSI, USB and Firewire |
| Network |
All
supported by CentOS (including wireless card!) |
 Installation
Is straightforward, You only have to follow the flow on screen. But here
is a small HowTo:
HowTo: software RAID 5 install
What I want: software RAID 5, 4 disk of 320GB (real 305GB), using NVIDIA SATA chipset
(not a dedicated RAID5 board).
Note: these pictures are not screenshots but picture taken with a sony camera...
http://www.openfiler.com/download
|
 |
| Download iso image from
sourceforge and burn it to a CD |
Insert CD, and boot the PC |
 |
 |
| The first step is to TEST
the quality of the medium. |
Openfiler did not recognize the NVIDIA controller.
|
 |
 |
choose "Add device"
|
NVIDIA drivers (both Ethernet and drive controller) are at the end of the list. |
 |
 |
| I've add both drivers manually. Then "Done" |
The welcome page. click "Next" |
 |
 |
| Choose Keyboard language. |
I am not a novice, so let's look at the advanced configuration. |
 |
 |
| The 4 disks are recognized. First I add some space for the Operating System. |
If You do not want to
have a fifth
disk just for the operating system, You'll have to reserve a small
amount of the global space for the Openfiler system. Note: this space
will be located on the first disk and wont be in the raid array...so no redundancy.
Anyway it is uncommon to install the RAID engine on the RAID array itself.
Lets have 2GB for System. |
 |
 |
| And 1 GB for SWAP |
Then I click on th button RAID, since I have no RAID predefined only the first choice is available: "Create a RAID partition" |
 |
 |
| I will have to create a RAID partition for each of the 4 drives, I reserved 300GB for disk SDB |
300GB for disk SDC, for Disk SDA |
 |
 |
| and for disk SDD...till all 4 disks contains a RAID partition. |
I click on the RAID button for the 5th times: and choose "create a RAID device" |
 |
 |
| My disk array will be named /RAID (mount point), Raid level 5 |
Result, a /RAID (device /dev/md0) with an EXT3 file system. |
 |
 |
| Nothing particular, default values are good |
Language support: English |
 |
 |
| Choose TimeZone |
Enter a good Root password. Mine s too
small but it is only a prototype for determining performances and
reliability of the setup. |
 |
 |
| Confirm all values entered by clicking Next |
wait till the raid array initialization |
 |
|
| CD get ejected, and reboot. |
Point your browser to https://box_ip:446/
And administer remotely the box |
If all my explanations are not clear enough, or You want more details, visit the official installation page
HowTo: hardware RAID 5 install
in progress...
Administration
Check Openfiler Administration guide
point your browser to https://box_ip:446/
Problems encountered
OpenFiler 1.1
| 2.0beta1
| 2.0beta2
| - The SATA controller was not recognized, this force me to use the 2.0Beta.
| - Unable to read or mount manually 2 different USB keys (FAT32), also unable to read CDROM (closed ISO and CDRW)
- The network card (NFORCE 4 ) was not recognized by Openfiler 2.0Beta, I
fail to copy the NVIDIA driver on the box because of point 2.
| - Is working perfectly, did not ask for any supplemental drivers
|
Web Interface GUI
Screenshots
Performances Tests
in progress
Conclusions
| Why
choosing it |
Why
avoiding it |
| Enterprise
NAS features out of the box |
You
do not need enterprise NAS features |
| Very
nice WEB GUI |
4GB
is too much and need an additional small disk only for starting the OS |
A
lot of functionalities
|
Limited choice of file system:
- no Reiserfs, the swiss knife of all filesystem.
- no JFS, XFS more adapted for big files
|
A
big communities of users and developers, good online documentation.
|
No AMD64 version, but it's really not an issue. |
| Very easy to have a software RAID5 arrays setup working. |
|
| Stable, Linux 2.6.9 kernel base. |
|
| GPL but an Enterprise version (with support)
is also available. |
|
|
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 04 June 2006 10:05 )
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