UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hey all. Here's my project:

I came across a spare 120 gig harddrive which I am going to use as the fileserver for my family. They will use this harddrive to backup files and use as extra space. It will ofcourse be over a network, and I will be using Samba and NFS to do this. All of my family computers are running Windows...

The first thing I am looking for is a File System which can survive crashes. For example, suppose the power goes out. I do not want to have large volumes of files deleted or damaged. I want the filesystem to be able to handle sudden crashes.

Second, I want the server to be stable. I am going to be placing this computer behind a wall (literally) and I want it to be able to sit there for months at a time without any user maintainance

I am looking at Linux or FreeBSD (just because those two I have the most experience with) but any other system would do...

Lastely, security is not an issue....yeah, seriously.

- Farhan

You are quite lucky, you dont think security is a big issue, maybe you are not planning to expose your PC to outside world. No one can ensure you that filesystem will survive in system crash or power loss. Better to have an UPS, if power loss is frequent in your part of the world. Linux is stable if configured properly, for 100+ days uptime you have to consider many things, like your room temperature, your SCSI drives, heat sinks, redundant harddrives, frequent backups to bring system back with minimum downtime, more than one NIC cards, properly configured filystem and other network services, compatible hardware, installation of patches when they are available. it also depends on the stability of your network.

Regards,
Tayyab

Well, this computer doesn't run anything other than
smbd, nmbd, telnetd, sshd, and maybe nfs. In addition, it will never be connected to the internet. I don't even think i setup a default gateway on it, so it would not even know how to reply to internet packets, had it received them...

As for room temp, that will not be an issue, because it will be in my basement which remains cool all year long.

So, the question remains...FreeBSD or Linux? Both can do the job, but stability and filesystem is the issue at hand.

- Farhan

No but you can get very close with Solaris and ZFS filesystems. I've been running a test harness against some here for a week or so and I have yet to break a filesystem, that includes active use poweroff testing.

If you hardware is in the HCL then it might be worth looking at Solaris, there is a good bit of learning involved. So you may find it not to be worthwhile.

Thanks reborg for introducing me the ZFS, I have read its data sheet it looks cool, never worked on Solaris before and never gave it try, I gonna test it soon, Farhan, here is the link for ZFS

Regards,
Tayyab

btw, asalaam alakum tayyab :-)