Distro recommendation - backup server

feenster99 · 23 Aug 2006 at 18:34

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

feenster99 · 23 Aug 2006 at 23:05

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

feenster99 · 24 Aug 2006 at 19:30

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).

feenster99 · 24 Aug 2006 at 20:18

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

feenster99 · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:28

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

feenster99 · 26 Aug 2006 at 10:25

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

feenster99 · 26 Aug 2006 at 17:20

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