My NAS array, testing performances and reliability
I am still waiting on the 4 last hard disks, they should arrive next week. While mounting everything together in the case, I was thinking on the range of tests I may do with this NAS before putting it online in production.
What kind of operating system will I use?
| OS | Software RAID 5/6 | Hardware RAID 5/6 | Remarks |
| Windows XP | Need Windows Server BUT there is a workaround | through the Promise EX350 driver | I do not want a fully fledged OS for a file server, but want to look at performances |
| Linux OpenFiler | standard using "mdam" | through the Promise EX350 #Linux driver | elegant, free and OS footprint can be reduce at it’s minimum |
| OpenSolaris | using ZFS Raid-Z | no driver support | ZFS is a great file system, and RAID-Z solve some problem of software RAID5 and Hardware RAID5 at the same time! |
| others? feel free to submit an alternative | Contact me or use Comments |
click read more…
And this is how my Network Array Storage looks like:
| NAS server | |
|---|---|
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 3000+ BOX, Socket 939, Venice |
| Platform | Asus A8N-VM CSM, mATX, Nvidia 6150/430 Video, socket 939, SATA RAID BIOS xxxxx |
| RAM | Corsair CM72DD512AR-400 (DDR2-400 ECC, reg.) 2x 512 MB, CL3-3-3-10 Timings |
| System Hard Drive | Raid 6: 2 Maxtor 7L300R0 MaXLine III, 7200rpm, 16MB, 300GB, IDE, 24/7 server. 4 Western Digital Caviar RE, 7200rpm, 8MB, 320GB, SATA, 24/7 USB attached: |
| Mass Storage Controller(s) | Promise SuperTrak EX8350, SATA2, 8 SATA port, Raid6 Controller |
| Networking | |
| Graphics Card | On-Board Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 6150 |
What kind of performances test I will do?
| Sofware | |
|---|---|
| Performance-test | c’t h2benchw 3.6 IoZone |
| I/O Performance | IOMeter Fileserver-Benchmark Webserver-Benchmark Database-Benchmark Workstation-Benchmark |
Future client using the NAS fileserver
| Clients | |
|---|---|
| Ladtop Windows XP professional HP nx7000 | 100Mb NIC Pentium-M 1.6GHz 1500MB Ram 60GB Harddisk 15,4""WXGA |
| Home desktop, Linux SuSe 10.1 | 1000 Mb NIC AMD Athlon XP 3400+ 1500 Mb RAM Asus A78Nx Nforce2 mainboard |
Of course I will stress the box 1 week before putting any vital/useless data on it!
