<div dir="ltr"><div>I've been running CentOS NAS servers for the past 15 years. I can usually find a decent rackmount server on eBay for around $99 that I imagine was probably used in the financial industry for a year or so and then turned over to a liquidator for disposal. I then load the drive bays with SATA drives I order from Amazon, install CentOS, and configure the machine as an NFS server. <br></div><div><br></div><div>I configure the drives in RAID-1 pairs when installing the OS. On the first pair I create a regular partition for /boot and an LVM pv volume for the rest of the disk, and for the remaining drive pairs I make the entire disk a pv volume. I install a cron job that regularly checks the drives and sends me email alerts if it detects any problems, so I can replace failing drives in a timely manner. <br></div><div><br></div><div>I've never calculated how it impacts my electric bill, and it's possible a low-power server box may be more cost effective overall, but my electric bill hasn't been noticeably bad. <br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 2:08 PM Tom Buskey <<a href="mailto:tom@buskey.name">tom@buskey.name</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif">In my mind, the client is what gets backed up. The host stores it.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif">I hadn't considered ransomware. I think ZFS snapshots on the host would work well w/o using much more space.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif"><a class="gmail_plusreply" id="gmail-m_8626286979252019366plusReplyChip-0" href="mailto:bdlabitt@gmail.com" target="_blank">@Bruce Labitt</a> I did Solaris up until just after the Oracle takeover (Solaris 11 even!), including some at home. I've forgotten just about everything about Solaris that isn't in Linux. If you're not using it, you lose it.<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 4:58 PM Bruce Labitt <<a href="mailto:bdlabitt@gmail.com" target="_blank">bdlabitt@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Thanks for the compliment. Put a bit of work into it. Self taught hobby machinist. Self taught Linux as well. Only have had machines for 18 months. Embarrassed to say how long I've been using Linux, as I keep on asking basic questions.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, May 26, 2021, 12:14 PM Tom Buskey <<a href="mailto:tom@buskey.name" target="_blank">tom@buskey.name</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">My Fedora /etc/fstab has spaces</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">UUID=54103729-6e0a-4345-a2b8-8b8cded29ee1 /boot ext4 defaults 1 2<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">I've had clients initiate rsync for security. I think the client initiation would offload the rsync compute from the server.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">For a home server, it's nice to just monitor the server instead of multiple clients.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">Nice buiild</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 11:00 AM Bruce Labitt <<a href="mailto:bruce.labitt@myfairpoint.net" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">bruce.labitt@myfairpoint.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div>Finally back to this. Built a stack of
metal plates that house my RPI4, a boot SSD, a 1TB RAID1 array,
and both active and passive USB3 hubs. Machined parts so
everything is bolted and clamped down. Have a PWM fan that cools
the RPI4 proportional to load that runs under systemd. System
boots from SSD. (No SD card.) It's kind of a brick sh!thouse,
but it's sturdy. Have created the RAID1 device - or it will be
finished in 45 minutes. It is still syncing.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Now I'd like to add the md0 device to
/etc/fstab. The example I see is with the device name. From
<a href="https://www.tecmint.com/create-raid1-in-linux/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tecmint.com/create-raid1-in-linux/</a></div>
<div>/dev/md0 /mnt/raid1 ext4
defaults 0 0</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I've read it is better to use the
UUID. Is the following the correct syntax?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>PARTUUID=my_complete_md0_UUID
/mnt/raid1 ext4 defaults 0 0</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>where my_complete_md0_UUID comes from</div>
<div>$ lsblk -o UUID /dev/md0</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Does one need to use tabs in fstab, or
are spaces ok?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Once I figure this out - I have to
figure out some rsync magic. Is it better for the server to
initiate the rsync, or the remote devices?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>After all this I have to make another
one. That shouldn't take as long as the first time! For some
pictures of the hardware build see
<a href="https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/an-rpi4-based-file-server.92273/#post-846939" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/an-rpi4-based-file-server.92273/#post-846939</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On 3/10/21 8:49 PM, Bruce Labitt wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">I'll take a look at that. Thanks for the link.</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 8:15
PM Marc Nozell (<a href="mailto:marc@nozell.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">marc@nozell.com</a>) <<a href="mailto:nozell@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">nozell@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Just to put a plug in for a colleague's work: <a href="https://perfectmediaserver.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://perfectmediaserver.com/</a>
It covers everything from disk purchasing strategies,
burn-in, filesystems (ZFS, SnapRAID, etc).
<div><br>
</div>
<div>He also hosts a podcast that folks here may find
interesting: <a href="https://selfhosted.show/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://selfhosted.show/</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-marc</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at
8:08 PM <<a href="mailto:jonhall80@comcast.net" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">jonhall80@comcast.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">OK:<br>
<br>
s/RPi4/some-other-cheap-computer-with-USB-3.x>/g<br>
<br>
Unless you build multiple Ethernet or WiFi or LTE modem
connections your networking will still be the slowest
thing.<br>
<br>
You do not need huge amounts of CPU power, or huge amounts
of RAM.<br>
<br>
My basic point is that if you stick with simple RAID (like
mirroring) but also set up a unit that is remote from your
own home you could protect your own data from fire, flood
and theft to a reasonable level and even protect your
friend's data by backing up their data to your device.<br>
<br>
Add snapshots as suggested by Tom Buskey,perhaps
encryption of file systems and data-streams and you can
have a rather simple, server where you learn a lot by
planning it out and setting it up rather than buying an
"off the shelf" solution or simply using a "web backup".<br>
<br>
And good catch on the USB power supply.<br>
<br>
md<br>
> On 03/10/2021 6:53 PM Joshua Judson Rosen <<a href="mailto:rozzin@hackerposse.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">rozzin@hackerposse.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> I'm not sure about the Raspberry Pi 4, but up thru
the raspi 3+ there are... problems, e.g.:<br>
> <br>
> Beware of USB on the raspi: there are some bugs in
the silicon that pretty severely<br>
> cripple performance when multiple `bulk' devices are
used at simultaneously,<br>
> sometimes to the point of making it unusable (e.g. if
you want to use a better Wi-Fi<br>
> adapter/antenna than the one built onto the board,
and connect an LTE modem so that<br>
> your raspi roam onto that if Wi-Fi becomes
unavailable, throughput on whichever of those<br>
> interfaces you're actually using can become abysmal).
IIRC the issue is basically<br>
> that the number of USB endpoints that can be assigned
interrupts by the raspi controller<br>
> is _incredibly small_; and it's common for
high-throughput devices to have multiple endpoints per
device--<br>
> sometimes even one USB device will have more
endpoints that the raspi USB controller can handle.<br>
> <br>
> Also, `network fileserver with USB-attached hard
drives' is kind of the `peak unfitness'<br>
> for the raspberry pi. Specifically if you've got it
attached to ethernet,<br>
> the ethernet is attached through the same slow-ish
USB bus as your HDDs.<br>
> <br>
> (the onboard Wi-Fi BTW is SDIO; so if you avoid using
the onboard Wi-Fi, I guess you might also<br>
> be able to make your µSD card faster...)<br>
> <br>
> ALSO: you'll really want to use an externally-powered
USB hub for USB devices<br>
> that are not totally trivial, because the raspi's
µUSB power supply is already<br>
> strained... (and if you're trying to power your raspi
from some random USB power supply,<br>
> don't. Ideally you power it through the 5V pins on
the expansion header...).<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> Though there is a lot of neat stuff that can be done
with a Raspberry Pi,<br>
> it's really easy to overestimate it.<br>
> <br>
> But on the other hand: YMMV, and there are scenarios
where the issues don't matter,<br>
> and might not even be noticeable. e.g., if you're
dumping periodic backups to your<br>
> raspi asynchronously instead of (say) NFS mounting it
and trying to use it interactively,<br>
> you might not even notice the weird bottlenecks
because you're never looking at them.<br>
> And if you have enough of them as spares running
simultaneously, you may not care<br>
> that every once in a while your fileystems get
corrupted or your USB ports stop working<br>
> or whatever.<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On 3/8/21 9:56 PM, <a href="mailto:jonhall80@comcast.net" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">jonhall80@comcast.net</a> wrote:<br>
> > I will suggest something and let people rip it
apart:<br>
> > <br>
> > Get two RPis that have at least USB 2.0 Attach
two large capacity disks to each one in a RAID-1
configuration (also known as "mirroring") to keep it
simple. If one disk fails the other will still keep
working (but you should replace it as soon as possible).<br>
> > <br>
> > Put all of your data on both systems.<br>
> > <br>
> > Take one of your systems to a friends or
relatives house who you trust that has relatively good
WiFi. Make sure the friend is relatively close, but is
not in the same flood plain or fire area you are.<br>
> > <br>
> > Do an rsync every night to keep them in sync.<br>
> > <br>
> > Help your friend/relative do the same thing,
keeping a copy of their data in your house. If your
disks are big enough you could share systems and disks.<br>
> > <br>
> > Use encryption as you wish.<br>
> > <br>
> > Disk failure? Replace the disk and the data
will be replicated.<br>
> > Fire, theft, earthquake? Take the replaced
system over to your friends/relatives and copy the data at
high speed, then take the copied system back to your house
and start using it again.<br>
> > <br>
> > You would need three disks to fail at relatively
the same time to lose your data. Or an asteroid crashing
that wipes out all life on the planet. Unlikely.<br>
> > <br>
> > Realize that nothing is forever.<br>
> > <br>
> > md<br>
> >> On 03/08/2021 7:33 PM Bruce Labitt <<a href="mailto:bdlabitt@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">bdlabitt@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> >> <br>
> >> <br>
> >> For the second time in 3 months I have had a
computer failure. Oddly, it was a PS on the motherboard
both times. (Two different MB's.) Fortunately the disks
were ok. I'm living on borrowed time. Next time, I may
not be that lucky. <br>
> >> <br>
> >> Need a file server system with some sort of
RAID redundancy. I want to backup 2 main computers, plus
photos. Maybe this RPI4 too, since that's what I'm
running on, due to the second failure. If this SSD goes,
I'm gonna be a sad puppy. This is for home use, so we are
not talking Exabytes. I'm thinking about 2-4TB of RAID.
Unless of course, RAID is obsolete these days. Honestly,
I find some of the levels of RAID confusing. I want
something that will survive a disk<br>
> >> failure (or two) out of the array. Have any
ideas, or can you point me to some place that discusses
this somewhat intelligently?<br>
> >> <br>
> >> Are there reasonable systems that one can
put together oneself these days? Can I repurpose an older
PC for this purpose? Or an RPI4? What are the gotchas of
going this way?<br>
> >> <br>
> >> I want to be able to set up a daily rsync or
equivalent so we will lose as little as possible. At the
moment, I'm not thinking about surviving fire or
disaster. Maybe I should, but I suspect the costs balloon
considerably. I do not want to backup to the cloud
because, plain and simple, I don't trust it to be fully
secure.<br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> Connect with me on the GNU social network! <<a href="https://status.hackerposse.com/rozzin" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://status.hackerposse.com/rozzin</a>><br>
> Not on the network? Ask me for more info!<br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
> <a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr">Marc Nozell (<a href="mailto:marc@nozell.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">marc@nozell.com</a>)
<a href="http://www.nozell.com/blog" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.nozell.com/blog</a></div>
_______________________________________________<br>
gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<pre>_______________________________________________
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p><br>
</p>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
</blockquote></div>
_______________________________________________<br>
gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
</blockquote></div>
</blockquote></div>
_______________________________________________<br>
gnhlug-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org" target="_blank">gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/</a><br>
</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix<br>Email <a href="mailto:jabr@blu.org" target="_blank">jabr@blu.org</a> / WWW <a href="http://www.abreau.net" target="_blank">http://www.abreau.net</a> / PGP-Key-ID 0x920063C6<br>PGP-Key-Fingerprint A5AD 6BE1 FEFE 8E4F 5C23 C2D0 E885 E17C 9200 63C6<br><br></div></div>