soft vs. hard
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TitanMATRIX
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Hardware or Software storage systems?? Storage devices only come in hardware... you maybe have software to your hardware. But they don't have software storage systems...
jmacavali
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Depending on how much data and what type of setup you have i would say you just need a hard drive that you can share out. I'm guessing a middle sized business is running a server? If not you really should look into it. You can then setup network drives, run DHCP, have a file and print server, have active directory, etc...
ok...
consider the following things.
when you say shared storage do you mean:
shared folders, like a drive that anyone can access.
or do you mean shared storage, like a disk that you'll share between servers to run clustered services?
In the first instance, if you;re looking to share folders around your group then I'd say that software is definitely better, use windows file sharing or Samba set up an configured to use the permissions on your domain to properly secure files.
if you want the second, and are after a disk to share between servers then I'd recommend a hardware solution,
you want Iscsi connections I'd definitely recommend a hardware solution over windows storage server.
consider the following things.
when you say shared storage do you mean:
shared folders, like a drive that anyone can access.
or do you mean shared storage, like a disk that you'll share between servers to run clustered services?
In the first instance, if you;re looking to share folders around your group then I'd say that software is definitely better, use windows file sharing or Samba set up an configured to use the permissions on your domain to properly secure files.
if you want the second, and are after a disk to share between servers then I'd recommend a hardware solution,
you want Iscsi connections I'd definitely recommend a hardware solution over windows storage server.
you can integrate Samba on linux with windows AD groups for security.
in any case, if you just want a file server you definitely don't want Iscsi, this is a technology used for creating locally attached scsi storage over Ethernet. it won't work for shared storage for clients, (it will work for shared storage for clustered servers, that's what it's designed for!).
anyway, if you want build in backups the ability to take snap shots, just use windows, get a large drive, share out your folders and use NT backup to take snapshots/backups.
in any case, if you just want a file server you definitely don't want Iscsi, this is a technology used for creating locally attached scsi storage over Ethernet. it won't work for shared storage for clients, (it will work for shared storage for clustered servers, that's what it's designed for!).
anyway, if you want build in backups the ability to take snap shots, just use windows, get a large drive, share out your folders and use NT backup to take snapshots/backups.
if you want a single solution then look to overland and the snap servers.
high availability raid arrays,
you're able to put on expansion units to upgrade storage when /if you manage to fill the storage,
they can serve Iscsi disks to your clustered servers or to form a remote mail store or something so that you're data isn't stored on a physical server.
they have SCSI host ports so you can connect a tape drive to do back ups.
of course all that doesn't come cheap...
so basically your three options are
free: linux (you already said that you don't want it, and I don;t blame you, it sounds like you're a windows guy, and it's not really worth learning a new OS for a file store server!).
medium cost: windows, then use windows file shareing and NT backup comes free.
massive cost:
buy a dedicated piece of hardware. the snap server that I said about costs a few grand...
but I seem to remember seeing something that was basically a file/folder server in a single box with five removable disks in it. that could server windows shares etc, and also do Iscsi disks, ftp appletalk etc, basically everything that the snap server could do, but for the privce tag of only £1,000 -which by the time you've bought the hardware and disks etc is about the same as a decent file server anyway. -the only way that this differed from the snap server was that attaching external disks would have to be USB disks rather than scsi raid arrays or scsi tape drives, (but USB external disks are cheaper than SCSI disks anyway.
I can't remember what the thing was called though. it was literally bought during my last few months working at a company.
high availability raid arrays,
you're able to put on expansion units to upgrade storage when /if you manage to fill the storage,
they can serve Iscsi disks to your clustered servers or to form a remote mail store or something so that you're data isn't stored on a physical server.
they have SCSI host ports so you can connect a tape drive to do back ups.
of course all that doesn't come cheap...
so basically your three options are
free: linux (you already said that you don't want it, and I don;t blame you, it sounds like you're a windows guy, and it's not really worth learning a new OS for a file store server!).
medium cost: windows, then use windows file shareing and NT backup comes free.
massive cost:
buy a dedicated piece of hardware. the snap server that I said about costs a few grand...
but I seem to remember seeing something that was basically a file/folder server in a single box with five removable disks in it. that could server windows shares etc, and also do Iscsi disks, ftp appletalk etc, basically everything that the snap server could do, but for the privce tag of only £1,000 -which by the time you've bought the hardware and disks etc is about the same as a decent file server anyway. -the only way that this differed from the snap server was that attaching external disks would have to be USB disks rather than scsi raid arrays or scsi tape drives, (but USB external disks are cheaper than SCSI disks anyway.
I can't remember what the thing was called though. it was literally bought during my last few months working at a company.
