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ara

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I though of starting a little Pros/Cons on the different NAS solutions that are available. I have used a couple of solutions but the main ones I like currently are FreeNAS and now NexentaStor (I have been monitoring for the last six months) while other people like to use headless Ubuntu. There is also a fourth solution that is very promising that I'm monitoring. I thought I'll put a little Pros and Cons between FreeNAS and Nexenta and perhaps Gert or Evan can put togther a Pros and Cons for Ubuntu to help people decide.

FreeNAS:
Pros:
Very easy to use and install
Lots of build in services like rSync, iScsi, etc that is ready to use and configure by any level of user
Nice WebGUI interface
Support for ZFS version 13
NFS and SAMBA shares

Cons:
For true ZFS support you need 64-bit installed and then you can't install Squeezebox Server
Speed according to Gert  ;D

Nexenta:
Pros:
Tagline of Nexenta (Power of Solaris with usability of Linux) --> That is for Gert  ;D it got things like APT-GET, etc.
Lots of build in services like rSync, iScsi, etc that is ready to use and configure by any level of user
Nice WebGUI interface
Support for ZFS version 28 with de-duplication, snap shots, etc.
NFS and SAMBA shares
Can be installed on a mirrored drive for redundancy of OS (without any difficulty)
Extremely good speed
Can run Squeezebox Server

Cons:
Can not be installed on Flash drives (actually it can but the WebGUI is then very slow so not recommended) therefore uses up 1 drive for the OS.

A link explaining ZFS and one of the main reasons that I go these routes for dat redundancy. http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/features/article.php/3849556
 
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