I have a customer with two or three (not sure if the third one is going to be used in their office at this point) LaCie Etherdisk Gigabit 2TB NAS devices. We have had reliability issues with them, but replacing them with a more reliable device is not really an option at this point, unless we can't come up with a cost effective alternative.
The owner of the client company (a fairly tech-savvy user who keeps us on our toes!) asked about the possibility of setting up some kind of a mirror or RAID using the extra NAS devices. I did some research, and discovered the concept of NAS virtualization, which I think might be the way to go here; but I am at a total loss as to where to look from here, as far as vendors, specific models, and the like.
The client is a small company, less than ten users, but they have a fairly large and complex network for their size, not to mention a HUGE pile of data (it's an accounting firm). Taking all the factors into account, I believe the best virtualization scheme for them would be an in-band appliance.
So, with all that said, what I would like to get opinions on is this:
1) Vendor & device recommendations, and/or reviews
2) Info, preferably first-hand, on any pitfalls or unintended consequences I may be heading toward
3) Suggested alternative solutions, if any, to the original issue of the NAS device reliability and availability
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!
:)
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