A project for HPC II by John Kosty during Spring 2015.

• To create a really good file server
• One with a good amount of redundancy

In order to successfully accomplish/perform this project, the listed resources/experiences need to be consulted/achieved:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReFS
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
• http://www.networkcomputing.com/storage/microsoft-refs-and-oracle-zfs-how-they-compare/a/d-id/1234318?
• http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas.html
• General hardware skills
• Knowledge of networking
• Knowledge of soldering
• Windows Experience
• Freenas Experience

• Storing files locally is an extremely poor practice, and I want to eliminate it at my house
• I cannot get people to store files on the server/NAS no matter what I do
• I decided to make this transparent to them by using Folder Redirection for my windows devices, and having NFS shares for my linux home directories

• In my never ending quest to have safe and resilient data, I stumbled ac crossed Western Digital Red drives.

• These beauties, while semi slow, run at extremely low temperatures, and they are made specifically for NAS applications. I don't think there is any other drive so perfectly fit for the job.
• I decide to buy 6x 2TB drives. I bought the 2TB drives since the 3TB+ have high failure rates, and the 1TB is too small.

• Here is my server with all 6 installed
• Specs are

1. 128GB Samsung 830 for the OS
2. Intel Pentium Processor G2120T
3. 8GB Gskill Ram
4. z77 Asus ITX Board
5. ASM1061 Sata Expansion Card

• I cannot decide between REFS, ZFS, or BTRFS.
• The project will be done once I settle on OS and filesystem

I unfortunately can't figure out what OS and filesystem I want to use on my server. I enjoy having native SMB due to most of my machines being Windows, but I want to have the experience of working in a Unix like environment. I probably will end up using FreeNas on the server, but until then, I will be using Windows Server 2012 R2 for trying out REFS.

In performing this project, the following resources were referenced:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReFS
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
• http://www.networkcomputing.com/storage/microsoft-refs-and-oracle-zfs-how-they-compare/a/d-id/1234318?
• http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas.html