[nzlug] File Server Cost Analysis

[Michael Adams]

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:09:13 +1200
Nevyn wrote:

> On 3/18/07, Michael Adams <linux_mike at paradise.net.nz> wrote:
> > Has anyone done a cost analysis for a Linux Server versus a Windows
> > one i can piggyback on? It's for a proposal for a Charitable
> > Organisations client files. My employer, a small unit of a larger
> > NPO, so i would make nothing on the proposal.
> >
> > I had been thinking something like RAID 5 with 3 * 150GB giving
> > 300GB plus a backup method (cron tar to a USB HDD?).
> >
> > --
> > Michael
> > Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.
> 
> Back to the original question: I'm guessing that's a no. Sure to set
> up a Linux server is going to be cheap in the software but there are
> some other factors to put in here.
> 
> Things such as:
> Support costs - Linux techs tend to get paid more than a Windows tech
> because it's still a niche market. This is important as if something
> breaks down, you want to know how much it's going to cost to fix it.

I thought this was balanced by the reduced downtime/maintenance time.

> Setup costs - Most Windows servers can be set up in a number of hours
> whereas alot of Linux things take up to a few days to setup.

Samba is the big thing here. I dont want a LAMP box or mailserver
(actually i do want LAMP, but not this box).

> As for the recommendations in this thread, there's an awful lot of
> assumptions being thrown about. No where does it say what the 3000GB
> are being used for. So the type of data being backed up might not even
> be all that critical. An external drive (either firewire or usb - I'd
> recommend firewire myself as it tends to be less taxing on your system
> resources) is likely to be enough if it's just a small outfit with
> little to spend on such things as synching across the internet.
> 

300GB not 3000, i fully expect to replace these disks with bigger ones
down the track, but that would be another years budget.

Data is files with client details which are sparse and distributed
over workstations at present but once setup properly may become very
important. To date we use a hardcopy backup of them all, a practise
which should continue. We want to setup a staff group with access to the
relevant files and not allow clients access to the server at all.

The firewire is a good idea, thanks. 

I live round the corner, and the boss works late some nights, so between
us we would take the backup off site every night. It would probably not
get back into work 10 working days out of every year, which we can live
with. 

If the boss is working late and not due back in for a week i suppose i
could use putty to force a sync during the day, before i leave. This
opposed to a cron job which may get tangled if the backup device isn't
there. Can you do something like an 'if exists' wrapped around the
backup in the cron script?

-- 
Michael
Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.