File server hardware setup

[ene.xis]

u can bet!

either spare the cash for a pimped server edition or get urself into some linux os...

[jujubee]

Well - I love Microsoft's excuse that the 10 connection limit is a security issue to prevent worms from spreading.

I wouldn't mind if they were honest and outright said that it was a way for them to make more money.

Seeing that I'm not concerned about 'worms' spreading, I came across this page which seems to work just fine:

http://www.planetamd64.com/lofiversi...hp?t31013.html

[dcullipher]

We have had a lot of good experiences with the Promise and 3ware raid cards. We run mostly RAID 50 (5+0) now but RAID 5 or 6 (Some new cards allow this) is highly recommended.

We have not used NAS devices before but I am sure the work well. You can also get CentOS, which is Red Hat Enterprise, but Open Source. Linux can be a it more complicated but it can definitely serve your drives.

Also make sure you get a good Gigabit Switch and a decent firewall/router to connect all of these together. The Dell switches are quite nice and affordable. I would avoid gigabit switches that seem to cheap, it's like RAM if its to good to be true...

Advantages to setting up a windows sever, as have been mentioned, are:
- setting it up as a license server if needed
- Using it for BB Server
- Flexible Backup Options (We off load to Hard Drives and archive to tape)
- Remote access through VPN (If using windows sever)

These are just what I can think of, and believe me I am no windows advocate. But we run Max so we must use the doze.

If you have any other questions I'll try to help