NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

student975 · 2011-03-16 12:13:06

Hi!

I'm assembling home NAS (mostly for CIFS, probably CVS, probably some kind of multimedia streaming) with OS (and it is AL) placed on an USB flash drive. What I have already found (I mean tips and tricks):

- /var has dedicated partition,
- some fs dirs will be mount with tmpfs: /tmp, /var/lock, /val/run, and even am thinking about linking /var/log to RAID1 which will be used, or to tmpfs also,
- of course, noatime (do we need 'flush' or any other options?),
- dd is suitable for easy backing up and restoring of bootable USB flash drive (I have tried - it works! ).

I would be happy if everybody having experience in this specific area will share discovered tips and tricks. If it takes matter, HW is (already bought): Celeron E3200, 2GB DDR3, 1TB + 1TB WD HDD for RAID1, uATX motherboard with solid caps, Scyther cooler, and so on.

Thanks in advance!

student975 · 2011-03-19 02:28:43

It seem like this server project is too specific (and, as a result, I'm too crazy)..

OK, few more concrete questions:

1. Is ext4 an appropriate selection for OS partitions file system (except /boot which is ext2)? (of course, I'm limited with that file systems list which is available on AL installation disk)
2. Is it possible to dedicate fixed and not-reducible read disk cache for some (i.e. OS') partitions?
3. Is it a good idea to find how to spin RAID HDDs out on idle? If I understand well, a spin up process itself isn't the best period of HDD life.
4. As far as I still use 100MBit router, CPU is probably too fast for the server yet. Are there (know to be safe) ways to reduce CPU, RAM (anything else..) heating?

cybertorture · 2011-03-19 03:13:41

1. yes ext4 is best compromise (only do not forget tune2fs -m 0 on storage partition(s))
3. no, better think well for cooling hard drives than spin down them, unless they are not runing for seweral hours total idle
4. specifications above will get 1 mbit with no worries, as for heat i strongly recommend u cpufrequtils

now its time for mine question, why the hell u use usb as system device Oo?

student975 · 2011-03-19 03:31:36

cybertorture, thanks for participation!

cybertorture wrote:

3. no, better think well for cooling hard drives than spin down them, unless they are not runing for seweral hours total idle

Yes, cooling and silence are main priorities. I have found old server 4U case as a base for some DYIing I'm also apt (before any experience) to avoid turning spin off.

cybertorture wrote:

4. specifications above will get 1 mbit with no worries, as for heat i strongly recommend u cpufrequtils

Probably it's a typo, I think you mean 1GBit. OK, will look at cpufrequtils.

cybertorture wrote:

now its time for mine question, why the hell u use usb as system device Oo?

It's sufficient, silent, very cheap (in comparison with SSD), didn't eat SATA slot and is very handy for backing up and restoring.

//--

Another question: HDDs has so called "Seek Mode 3" with less seeking noise (and less performance). Have not found a way to tune it.

Last edited by student975 (2011-03-19 03:33:13)

cybertorture · 2011-03-19 04:04:21

oops 1 GBit sorry

here some tips for fstab

proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
udev /dev devtmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,size=10240k,nr_inodes=94876,mode=755 0 0
sys /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600,ptmxmode=000 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults,rw,relatime,size=400M 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

student975 wrote:

It's sufficient, silent, very cheap (in comparison with SSD), didn't eat SATA slot and is very handy for backing up and restoring.

yes, i didnt think for this, thanks for the tip

student975 · 2011-03-19 04:22:36

cybertorture wrote:

here some tips for fstab

proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
udev /dev devtmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,size=10240k,nr_inodes=94876,mode=755 0 0
sys /sys sysfs rw,relatime 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,relatime,mode=600,ptmxmode=000 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults,rw,relatime,size=400M 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0

Thanks! - too many tips, I need some time to dig in

student975 · 2011-03-19 05:46:24

As for HDD silence, at my case (WD 1T EARS)

sudo hdparm -M 128 /dev/sda

seems to work. To be sure I have used

sudo sync; sudo sh -c 'echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches'

to drop cache before scanning dirs (to listen to HDD seeking).

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-16 12:13:06

NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#2 2011-03-19 02:28:43

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#3 2011-03-19 03:13:41

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#4 2011-03-19 03:31:36

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#5 2011-03-19 04:04:21

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#6 2011-03-19 04:22:36

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

#7 2011-03-19 05:46:24

Re: NAS on a memory stick - tips and tricks

Board footer