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Thread: Best OS for Large Scale FileServer?

  1. #1
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    Best OS for Large Scale FileServer?

    At work we ran into a problem with our current server OS not beable to support volumes over 8 TB; what OS would best suit my needs here. We have tossed around a couple of ideas but are unsure with what to persue. If someone can please give me some ideas/reasons behind your ideas I would appreciate it.

    Just so you know what kind of business we are into: We work in digital photography on the printing end of things. Novell has ran the servers for years but we ran into a wall after we installed our new SANS and novell not supporting a volume over 8TB. The server needs to beable to run 24-7 with a user load of 75-100 employees, with heavy read/writes to the server.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Free BSD or Linux. I'm not sure for volume sizes but I'm quite sure BSD won't have a problem there, I've never used one of that size, but as for the rest, no problem really.

    http://www.freebsd.org

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    We have thought about using linux, the problem is none of us are well versed in linux. I've played with it on a small scale, but nothing like this. If we will get the best performance from linux, we will go with it.

    What tools does linux have built in for large volumes? Our largest volume will be 9.5 TB, and we have roughly another 3TBs to work in. One other concern is scalability, come July or so we will be purchasing another 10TBs to add into the 9.5TB volume.

    Thanks for the fast reply Gore.
    The only limit a person has, is the limit they give themselves.
    Cogito ergo sum. - Descartes

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    Netware? I know it used to be possibly the most stable file server available (I've seen Netware 3 boxes with 7+ years uptime -- having out UPS-ed and gas generatored several big blackouts), but am unsure of its partition size limitations. Have you considered a SAN solution? For that much data it may be the only way to really go.

    EDIT: Apologies, I just reread this post and realised I didn't say "A newer version of Netware".
    You may have to go with something like Netware on Linux to achieve what you're looking for, as gore mentioned.
    Chris Shepherd
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  5. #5
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Netware is stable as HELL. 5 years uptime seems to be a very common thing. BSD and Linux can do that too but I agree with Chsh that it's very good on Netware. And hey now that Novell has sUSE Linux, you might be lookign at the solution already.

    http://www.novell.com/linux/

    You may try emailing them and seeing what they can come up with for your needs. After talking with the SUSE staff I know they will actually be nice and fair about it and from what HTRegz has said they won't try dicking you out of more money than you need to spend either which is one reason I respect this company so very much.

    SUSE + Netware could be something with maybe Free BSD in the BG somewhere.

  6. #6
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    I can only talk about much smaller systems for high intensity graphics..........like about 40% of yours....................I do think that you should factor the graphics apps people into the discussion?

    At least you can then say you consulted them first?

    My thoughts

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    Thank you all for your replies. I'm in the process of emailing back and forth with novell to see if novell over linux will be a good solution. I am really suprised no one has suggested 2k3 server. I've heard it performs very well as a large scale file server. If anyone has worked with 2k3 on a large scale scene, please reply and tell me your thoughts on it.
    The only limit a person has, is the limit they give themselves.
    Cogito ergo sum. - Descartes

  8. #8
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    You said stability was a requirement right? Wait, yes, here:

    " The server needs to beable to run 24-7 with a user load of 75-100 employees, with heavy read/writes to the server."


    Windows Servers are out of the question.

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    although I am a very big windows user, I do have to agree with gore. We have BSD servers that have been up for weeks (since the UPS died) and our windows servers all have less then a weeks up time beasue they keep needing to be restarted.
    Everyone is going to die, I am just as good of a reason as any.

    http://think-smarter.blogspot.com

  10. #10
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    And every security update needs a reboot. I don't like that at all. The other OSs listed here only need reboots for Kernel updates. Not to sure about Netware, I know a little about it.

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