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== Introduction ==
This page will cover the development of low-cost, sustainable, and extensible backup and NAS solutions.

* Define objectives:
        - What type of data will be included in backup?
        - How often should the backup run?
        - How is the data accessed after backup?

* Initial thoughts:
        - Utilise existing hardware where possible
        - Utilies Open Source software, such as FreeNAS, Bacula, or Amanda.

* Possible apps to use:
        - DeltaCopy - http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp
        - FreeNAS - http://www.freenas.org
        - Bacula - http://bacula.org/en/
        - Amanda - http://sourceforge.net/projects/amanda
        - Zmanda - http://www.zmanda.com/
        - [http://sourceforge.net/projects/longstop/ longstop]

* Backup Information:
        - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup Backup on Wikipedia]

== Backup rotation for physical disks ==

* For live server:
        - 52 weekly (full) backups
        - backup on a specified day e.g. friday or monday
        - incremental / differential backups between full backups
        - offsite storage rotated on a daily basis (e.g. get wednesday's tapes wednesday morning, ship them out thursday morning)

* Archive to archive server:
        - move files to be archived to archive server on a periodic basis (e.g. six months)
        - create full backup of archive server each time it's updated
        - store archive backups offsite (possibly with an on-site duplicate for quick restore purposes)


== Hardware Requirements ==

=== Use of common server hardware ===

To make use of readily available marketplace hardware to perform the tasks of traditional and (very) expensive commercial systems. Reuse of existing hardware. This way we build better and even more redundancy into our network with the available resources. Whenever something breaks and/or needs replacement we may have the part in stock and do no longer need to wait days for delivery.

* General Specification:
        - RAID enabled motherboard
        - Multiple Harddrives to create RAID storage array
        - Multiple NICs
        - 1GB RAM minimum

=== Think about your data storage requirements ===

► How important it is to you (personal or business data)

► Can it be easily replaced or is it replicated elsewhere?

► How often you access/change the information

► What is the expected growth rate of data (will I max out the storage media and how do I expand it?)

=== The Performance ===

    * How many users access the information
    * What your network infrastructure is (the old 10/100/1000 debate)
    * Cables,
    * Switches (and hubs),
    * Routers
    * (some have multiport routers with wireless and are talking about GigE (why? wirless does not do GigE and the switch ports will more than likely be 10/100)
    * Accessability and Security
    * Will you be accessing the data locally, or via a WAN?
    * and finally, The budget: Do I have any/some/no existing hardware that can be used to build my FreeNAS platform? How much money have I got to spend?

* Hard Drive:

    Replacement: Hard drives are the most important parts of data storage devices.If the drive fails there are no replacements
    Performance: Size, drive speed, transfer speed, buffer memory, brand and model are just some characteristics on witch depend your system performance.
    Failure: If your system breakdown you can replace the failed parts, reinstall FreeNAS or move the hard drive to a different system to recover your data. If your hard drive die, the information on the drive is lost forever.
    Size: You can use hard drives up to 2TB under FreeNAS(FreeBSD ), but you must keep in mind that you need a hard drive supported buy BIOS to boot FreeNAS from hard drive.

* Motherboard:

    Replacement: Motherboards can be replaced or upgraded without any data lost.
    Performance:
        * P2 motherboards perform well under FreeNAS, however you can get some limitation on BIOS tune-up, hard drive size limit, bus and IDE speed, ACPI compatibility.
        * P3 motherboards are the good choice, old but not too old.
        * P4 motherboards are fast, but you can get some unsupported motherboards or built-in components.


* Processor:
    Replacement: Processors can be replaced or upgraded without any data lost. L1 and L2 cache size of the processor can make a difference.
    Performance:
        * P2 it’s OK for a small network server without SoftwareRAID.
        * P3 it’s a good choice, for the server reliability and SoftwareRAID.
        * P4 is the best choice for the moment.
        * Multi-Processors:  I successfully run FreeNAS 0.685b2 on Pentium DualCore, waiting for news from AMD.

* RAM:

    Replacement: memory can be replaced or upgraded without any data lost.
        * 128MB: is the minimum system requirement for FreeNAS, can be OK for a small network server.
        * 256MB: can be a good decision for small system < 1 TB.
        * 512+MB : extra RAM will not improve the performance but will not hurt it anyway, can by required for large filesystems > 500G.

* Network Cards:

    Replacement: Network cards can be replaced or upgraded without any data lost.
        * 10Mb NIC ’s are old and slow but can do the job.
        * 100Mb NIC’s, cheap cables and switches are the best solution for the money.
        * 1Gig NIC’s are a bit pricey and you must consider making a full upgrade of your network. If only one computer on the LAN talk gigabit, your network will work at the best speed that the slowest device in any given conversation can manage.
        * What is the point of having one single gigabit connection to one single computer on your LAN?
        * Full upgrade to gigabit include industrial grade cables (home made cables are too noisy), gigabit switches, gigabit routers, gigabit NIC’s, in one word the whole network.
        * Once you upgrade everything, you wrongfully believe that your network will work at Gigabit speed? Wrong!
        * If your workstation access the internet you must setup the maximum MTU to 1500, like that you can’t take advantage of higher “jumbo frames” MTU 9000. If your server use MTU 9000 and your workstations use MTU 1500,  packet fragmentation will slow down your network.
        * What about the hard drives transfer speed?

== The Build ==

Want to build a system comparible to http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=388687 (€ 3,650.02) on a shoestring. Possibly branch this into a seperate page.


[[Category:Projects]]