File Server for Realestate Office

[mjbcomputers]

5 workstations total 1 being a mac. They don't do enough to need or warrant a full on server solution. Looking for a good NAS to centralized their files. Each person has a shared folder on the root of the C. So when an agent takes a picture of homes another agent can access w/e is on their computer i that folder. You get the picture. I did not set it up this way. Its what i walked into. It works but, Janky IMO.

What i would like to do, is create a central file server/backup With 1 folder being public for everyone then each agent can have their own personal folder on the FreeNAS. That can hold system backups via a program like Acronis or similar.


Cooler Master N200 - Mini Tower Computer Case
Corsair CX Series, CX600, 600 Watt (600W) Power Supply
Supermicro A1SAM-2550F-O Micro ATX Intel Atom C2550
Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM Server Memory
WD Red 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s - (TWO of them)
ADATA Premier SP600 32GB 2.5 Inch SATA III - To hold the OS

Do you think they would need an ssd caching drive? If so how large
Keep in mind they don't have a TON of data. All 5 stations combined wouldn't equal to 1tb of real storage.

 

[Dice]

Hello and welcome to the forums!
Definitely - FreeNAS is the way to go :D
I think you've picked out a solid system for the usecase.

I hope you intend on setting up the drives in <mirrors>. I'd look for something slightly larger than starting out at ~60% filled drives out the gate. Might be somewhat overkill but also will assure the best performance (free space is the key to achieve performance on ZFS mirrors). I'd look for 2x 4TB ideally. SSD cache (L2ARC/SLOG) will not be of interest in this usecase at all.

Your setup with groups/accounts, is easily done. Check out the resource video by monkey - it breaks it down into detail and shows how to avoid the common pitfalls.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Do you think they would need an ssd caching drive?

I'm confident they would not, but the rule is that if you're seeing poor performance and you've identified lack of cache as the bottleneck, you increase the RAM. You continue to increase the RAM until either the problem goes away or you've maxed out the system. Only then do you consider adding a device for L2ARC.

 

[Chris Moore]

What i would like to do, is create a central file server/backup With 1 folder being public for everyone then each agent can have their own personal folder on the FreeNAS. That can hold system backups via a program like Acronis or similar.

Why not try an actual server:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1U-Supermic...986136?hash=item1ebce29a58:g:KeEAAOSwB09YMy39

You can put four drives in this case and you are done. It already has everything you need. Just add drives.

 

[Dice]

Why not try an actual server:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1U-Supermic...986136?hash=item1ebce29a58:g:KeEAAOSwB09YMy39

You can put four drives in this case and you are done. It already has everything you need. Just add drives.

That would be a real option too.
However - it would require the machine to be put away where it wont cause irritation due to noise.
This is not the type of machine you put behind a book shelf in a office and call it done. Absolutely not. Not even for the "noise tolerant" ones.