Best *nix OS for NFS / iSCSI

Can someone suggest a *nix OS most suitable to present storage via NFS / iSCSI including filesystem? I am currently using CentOS which is fine, but since I have to reinstall (changing LVM raid to hardware raid), I thought I look what else is out there.

I don't want to use any NAS / SAN distros which are 'ready to go' as I prefer to swear over the process of setting it up myself, plus I might use the OS for other things as well so I prefer a vanilla system myself.

I know CentOS is just fine but I thought I'll pick your brains anyway, in case other OS' perform better than that (i.e. Solaris?).

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Comments

goll

CentOS or Debian

If you already have Linux knowledge, no need to use UNIX I guess. Configuring these IP-based storage stuff is piece of cake on Linux.

al3kt.R***

CentOS is excellent for all NFS and iSCSI needs!!!

jmritenour

Another vote for CentOS here.

pram

Openfiler, no contest. If you don't want an appliance OS just stick with CentOS though.

jibbajabba

Guess I'll stick with it then ... Centos that is. Sometimes other OS' work better with services like that etc., but if CentOS is still the way to go then I am happy to stick with it

Thanks.

ChooseLife

ANY Linux/UNIX distro that you are comfortable with will do fine

phatrik

Technically speaking when you ask about *nix, you're asking about commercial variants, i.e.: SCO, AIX, HP-UX. That being said, I'm going to assume you were actually asking about which Linux distribution to use.

When chosing a Linux distribution, the following should be considered:

- Which distribution are you most familiar with? Different distributions will have different defaults, i.e.: CentOS/FC stores apache's config in /etc/httpd/conf and Debian/ubuntu uses /usr/local/apache2 or something similar.

- Which package management do you prefer/are you more familiar with, yum or apt-get?

- What kind of life cycle does the distribution follow? For how long will security updates keep being made available before you have to upgrade to the next major version, which usually means re-imaging a new server?

The first two considerations are trivial, as that stuff can easily be learned. The third is what matters the most IMO. CentOS, which stands for "Community ENTerprise Operating System" has long life cycles (just as Ubuntu LTS does) and is my preferred choice for production systems if looking for something other than RHEL. Since either CentOS or Ubuntu LTS is suitable for production, it really all comes down to which one you prefer working with.

jibbajabba

With *nix I am referring to either Linux or Unix-like distros such as Solaris / BSD.

I am familiar with most Linux variations and setup most (major) ones including not so mainstream ones (LFS for example) - but most setups I dealt with were webserver or generic processing etc.

I just never used Linux as storage server so I am not sure if one performs better than the other.

I compare it with the filesystem for example. If someone would ask me what filesystem to use for a mailserver, I'd say stay away from ext3 but rather use XFS.

So I was after a similar suggestion in terms of the usage. For example, if someone told me that I am getting the most out of it when using ZFS, I know I'd go with Solaris - makes sense?

If it doesn't really matter (since you'd probably use the same packages across the distros), then great, I just use what I know best

jdancer

Seems like you are looking for a Linux distribution where *YOU* choose what to install. Since I am not one to compile source code, I personally use Archlinux (archlinux.org). It is truly barebones which is great for building a system that you want.

I use Archlinux as a NFS/CIFS/AoE server on a HP Proliant Microserver. Zero problems both software and hardware.

jibbajabba

Use Archlinux on my RaspberryPi and use it as router

So I know that too

demonfurbie

i like clearos for small servers/file servers

jibbajabba

demonfurbie wrote: »

i like clearos for small servers/file servers

ClearOS is ok but it has a lot of issues. I had massive performance and general issues (throughput when using as router and simple module installations/upgrades) and their premium support gave up and even ignored responses at some point so I'll stay away from it

MentholMoose

Since you are planning to use hardware RAID, there's not much of a reason to use ZFS. CentOS is good if you are already familiar with it. If this is for learning purposes, you could use Fedora to start getting familiar with what will be in RHEL/CentOS 7. Also, Fedora has the latest software which may include performance optimizations, though there may be bugs that hurt performance or cause other issues.

jibbajabba

Has a purpose, just not for learning purposes but repurpose a server with the need of shared storage with both NFS and iSCSI