Distro recommendation - backup server

feenster99

feenster99

feenster99

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West Yorks, UK
Hi all,
Can someone recommend me a distro that can fulfil the following:

- Rsync server
- FTP server
- Secure (shouldn't be too hard!!)
- Regular security updates
- Work with UPS's
- Allow DVD burning (not dual layer)
- Work with the following PC spec:

- Intel P4 3.0GHz HT
- 1GB DDR400
- Asus motherboard with integrated graphics, sound, LAN, RAID, 4 x SATA ports
- 80GB SATA hard drive to run the OS from
- 2 x 320GB SATA hard drives to run in RAID 1 for data
- DVD-RW
- USB UPS (cant remember the make/model at the moment)

I was thinking of giving CentOS a try. I know most of the above is included in most distro's, but I was wondering if there are any specific distro's aimed at providing a backup server?

Cheers,
Matt
 
CentOS is a very nice system, its based on the red hat es server os, i use it for my webservers and never had an issue with it, i would highly reccomend it
 
OpenFiler looks like it could be exactly what I need. No mention of Rsync on the website, but I imagine it is there under the hood.

If I can't get on with that, CentOS is looking like the next best option.

Thanks guys,
Matt
 
Ah bummer. The motherboard I have doesn't do "proper" RAID - it is a software jobby. Hence, Openfiler nor CentOS will find any drives to install onto.

Would Debian or OpenSuse be a better option?

Matt
(P.S. I have ordered a 4 socket SATA II RAID card, but i'm not convinced I won't have the same problem).
 
Couldnt you just have the drives set up in JBOD mode (Just a Bunch Of Disks) and then software RAID it under Linux?
 
OpenFiler provides the option to do software RAID with ordinary disks connected via IDE/SATA so it wold be worth a try before splashing out on a hardware controller.
 
The difficulty seems to be that the OpenFiler/CentOS installed won't even see the SATA disks. I've tried altering the BIOS so the onboard RAID controller is to either SATA or RAID, but the installer still doesn't detect any disks. Do you think a hardware controller would help (i've got one ordered anyway, so it should be here tomorrow).

Cheers,
Matt
 
Hi

as it based on a "old" kernel, if your wanting SATA raid support your need a 3Ware card. ( i may have one in members market shortly )

Or your need an adaptec card, although there can be issuse with these also.

What SATA chipset are you currently trying to get it installed on?

cheers
Deano
 
The current motherboard is an Asus that runs a VIA RAID controller. The card that has been ordered is a Promise TX3200 or something like that.

What distro's are based on the "new" kernel then? Will these work properly with the gear I have?

Matt
 
My system, comparible to the above, runs SuSE 9.3 with a recompiled later kernel and later EVMS installed and compiled.
Who said Linux was hard ;)

Barton XP2500, NF7S, 512MB, 80GB IDE system drive, 6x200GB SATA drives in the form: RAID5 5x200 + 1x200 active standby, Gigabit NIC, gf3ti200.

I don't even need a RAID5 hardware for it.. the CPU is powerful enough to cope with software RAID5.

Linux does software raid 0-6. With EVMS it's even better as EMVS has better management options.
 
Last edited:
Cheers Nick. After sticking the Promise RAID card in, Fedora Core 5 couldn't cope with the installation. Suse 10.1 seemed to get further, but unfortunately, I got called out to a job so couldn't finish it off. Will report back when I have made progress.

Matt
 
It's possible to run without any form of "RAID" hardware controller.

The machine is running 2 drives from the motherboard SATA (Si3112A) and 4 drives via a standard PCI 4port SATA controller card (Si3114).

It's possible to mix and match as many different drives as you want - even SATA and IDE in the same volume..

Also by raiding partitions rather than drives, new large drives can be added without bein incompatible. The array does have to keep all the partition sizes the same though.. with EVMS it's possible to resize the array by expanding or collapsing it a partition at a time.
 
The problem I actually had was that none of the Fedora based distro's would even pick up the main disk (80GB SATA plugged into the Motherboard). FreeNAS did it fine, but the others struggled.

I've yet to see whether OpenSUSE will do it.

Matt
 
Would have thought core 4 or 5 would be able to see it.

I think some of the more upmarket 4 port promise cards (not the ones that have cache mem on them) in the region of £100 will provide hardware raid that linux understands 3ware cards are brilliant but a little steep in price.

to be honest if you just want raid 1 set them up as software raid its cheap and works well.
 
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