NAS box with cloud option or MAC MINI Server
Hi Guys,
I have a client who doesn't have the money right now to be able to afford a full blown Windows Server, so we are looking to compare 2 options - NAS Server and a MAC MINI Server.
What they want to be able to do is -
1. Create users and groups on the NAS itself.
2. Be able to restrict access to certain folders on the NAS for certain groups.
3. Most importantly - Be able to access the folders on the NAS over a website so that they can download pdf/word/excel from a webpage whilst they are on the road, edit and then automatically upload it back to the NAS box. Someone said that NAS boxes can sync to cloud these days so if someone could make a recommendation that would be great
4. Lastly - We want to be able to plug-in USB backup drives to the NAS box and take daily incremental backups. Usually we have 1 backup drive for each day i.e. Mon-Fri so the backup should automatically be able to detect the changes since last time and run an incremental only with an option to do Monthly fulls.
Someone was suggesting a MAC MINI SERVER to do all this so if you could make recommendations on MAC as well. I can weigh out the pros and cons of both solutions.
Also with NASs, I would like to stay away from QNAP because I have had very bad experience with their support which is based in TAIWAN. They take forever to respond.
I have a client who doesn't have the money right now to be able to afford a full blown Windows Server, so we are looking to compare 2 options - NAS Server and a MAC MINI Server.
What they want to be able to do is -
1. Create users and groups on the NAS itself.
2. Be able to restrict access to certain folders on the NAS for certain groups.
3. Most importantly - Be able to access the folders on the NAS over a website so that they can download pdf/word/excel from a webpage whilst they are on the road, edit and then automatically upload it back to the NAS box. Someone said that NAS boxes can sync to cloud these days so if someone could make a recommendation that would be great
4. Lastly - We want to be able to plug-in USB backup drives to the NAS box and take daily incremental backups. Usually we have 1 backup drive for each day i.e. Mon-Fri so the backup should automatically be able to detect the changes since last time and run an incremental only with an option to do Monthly fulls.
Someone was suggesting a MAC MINI SERVER to do all this so if you could make recommendations on MAC as well. I can weigh out the pros and cons of both solutions.
Also with NASs, I would like to stay away from QNAP because I have had very bad experience with their support which is based in TAIWAN. They take forever to respond.
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Egnyte is a per user cost and cloud storage. You can install a client app like Dropbox and have no equipment to manage. You can also pair it with a netgear nas so you can access the files locally. No need to backup because its already synced to the cloud. Good for small office with under 1tb. Gets a little pricier with more storage.
Mac mini server:
You just buy it as Mac mini with the server tools. Owncloud is an app. It's free. You have to figure out your own backup.
Mac mini server:
You just buy it as Mac mini with the server tools. Owncloud is an app. It's free. You have to figure out your own backup.
ASKER
I know about and use Dropbox myself but I dont want cloud like solution, just a NAS box that is capable of being accessed via http://WANIP_ADDRESS
We do need backup drives swapped everyday so that old backups can be retrieved. Please read point 4 again.
Re: Mac MINI Server
I really need someone to help me with the whole solution as I am not familiar with MAC.
Thanks for your help anyway
We do need backup drives swapped everyday so that old backups can be retrieved. Please read point 4 again.
Re: Mac MINI Server
I really need someone to help me with the whole solution as I am not familiar with MAC.
Thanks for your help anyway
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=864542&is=REG&A=details&Q=
Does everything you want @69 bucks,just add disks.
Does everything you want @69 bucks,just add disks.
ASKER
Sounds good, could you please explain whcih technology within iogear should I use for each of the 4 requirements as in above question.
$69 is extremely cheap.
$69 is extremely cheap.
Uses Linux as an OS,has a security setting for user and groups,has a cloud setting so it can be accessed from the net,built in backup and you can add built in services from Amazon and such.
Lenovo bought out Iomega and it looks as if they are blowing out the old stock until Lenovo rebrands them as theirs.
I picked up two and they are quite decent.
Probably going to pick up a few more.
Lenovo bought out Iomega and it looks as if they are blowing out the old stock until Lenovo rebrands them as theirs.
I picked up two and they are quite decent.
Probably going to pick up a few more.
May I ask how many people at once will be accessing this? With many concurrent users it may start running quite slowly.
The speed on these things is OK because it's Liinux and not Windows,but without it being plugged into a UPS,the cache is turned off which will slow things down.
So a UPS is kind of a must if you want speed.
So a UPS is kind of a must if you want speed.
If you really want a good product that is Windows based and under $1K,then look at WD's Sentinel.
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-22-236-012&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleBiz&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleBiz-_-pla-_-Desktop+NAS-_-9B-22-236-012&gclid=CN6r57264bcCFWKCQgodHCoAcw
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-22-236-012&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleBiz&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleBiz-_-pla-_-Desktop+NAS-_-9B-22-236-012&gclid=CN6r57264bcCFWKCQgodHCoAcw
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ASKER
Im sorry guys, this question is not abandoned. I have just ordered a DEMO of synology NAS from supplier. Will let you know soon how it goes
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Get a Microsoft action pack. $429 a year and you get windows server licenses. All you have to do is pass a little test.
ASKER
YEs but have to pay this cost yearly and you can only use licenses for 1 year
ASKER
So I did get a Synology NAS 420+ and within 15 days it died. Features looked good especially the file sync over phone but being Linux it was a bit glitchy.
The backups (Time machine) would not work after a while and staff being overseas were slow to respond. I am not going to worry about this for the moment. Linux based solutions are always glitchy and so are more NASs. There is no real replacement to a windows server. Awarding points for effort. Thanks guys
The backups (Time machine) would not work after a while and staff being overseas were slow to respond. I am not going to worry about this for the moment. Linux based solutions are always glitchy and so are more NASs. There is no real replacement to a windows server. Awarding points for effort. Thanks guys
ASKER
Rather than cloud I was thinking if NAS had an ability to have its own webpage that user could browse to from their laptops (or ipads etc.) to edit files, although we are not too fussed about ipads at this stage,
Also what about backups as mentioned in point 4 above. Is this solution capable of delivering this?
RE: MAC solution -
I would need to know how to build a MAC MINI SERVER.
What backup software etc. to use.
And whether this owncloud is free or not??
What in your opinion is the best solution. At this stage client expects to have 500GB of data storage so we would prefer MAC MINI to have redundant storage.