[SATLUG] Building a backup server

[Bruce Dubbs]

Sean Carolan wrote:

>Here's an interesting comparison -
>
>*** The Windows Way ***
>
>My wife works in a biology research lab and they needed a file server.
>They are storing photos of microscope slides and word documents and
>wanted to have them all in one place instead of scattered across 5
>windows computers.  They bought some kind of mega server from dell with
>16 hard drives for $10,000 - $12,000 or so.
>
>*** The Linux Way ***
>
>My workplace needs a backup server for 4 workstations.  Here's what I
>did:
>
>* Bought an IBM 166Mhz pentium computer off ebay for $20, put in a 40GB
>hd ($79 at compUSA) and nic card (had an extra one lying around)
>* Installed Redhat 7.2 from CDs, got samba and ssh up and running
>* Total cost $99.00
>
>Cost effective?  I think so.  Even if I wanted to attach 16 hard drives
>to this homemade backup server, it still costs a LOT less than the
>win2000 server at the biology lab.
>
Interesting, but I think you are comparing apples to oranges to a 
certain extent.  That 16 HD enclosure is not cheap and you need a very 
good backup system too.

We bought a 4 HD system from Dell earlier this year for about $8K. We 
can put in another 4 drives for just the cost of the drives, but adding 
numbers 9-16 would be a couple of thousand easily.  The only difference 
I can see is that we are running Linux :)

BTW, our system also has parts and labor support through 2005 included 
in the cost.

Yes, I know that a multi-processor system is overkill for a biology lab 
file server, but we are doing a bit more with
ours than just serving files.  Perhaps they want the capability to do 
more with theirs in the future.

  -- Bruce