Skip to main content

Five budget-friendly open source storage servers

Image
By

Storage is essential for the enterprise: Data must be stored. Data must be retrieved. Data must be shared. Data must be secured. At the same time, storage must not consume the entirety of your IT budget. Fortunately, you can find effective solutions in the world of open source.
Outside of cost effectiveness, one of the biggest benefits of these solutions is the ability to modify them to perfectly fit your needs. You can make minor changes or even roll your own storage solution based on one of these tools.
If you want enterprise support and a "solution in a can" that will meet just about any enterprise storage need, you should turn to Red Hat or SUSE. Both Linux-based companies offer some of the most powerful enterprise-ready tools on the market. But if you'd rather get your hands dirty and craft something of your own—something that won't demolish your budget—these five open source tools are a great place to start.

1: ownCloud

ownCloud (Figure A) is on the rise, faster than any cloud-based storage system. It's easy to use, it can be installed locally, and it offers desktop and mobile sync clients. The ownCloud solution is ideal for companies of all sizes that need a cloud storage solution for files, photos, contacts, and even a cloud-based calendar.

Figure A

Figure A
ownCloud is a powerful tool, and the sync client allows you to keep multiple folders in sync with your desktop. One feature that should appeal to enterprise clients is the ability to recover accidentally deleted files. ownCloud offers a Community edition and an Enterprise edition. In addition to the long list of features found in the Community edition, the Enterprise edition offers LDAP/Active Directory support, Single Sign In, Encryption 2.0 support, and much more.

2: Pydio

Pydio (formerly AjaXplorer) allows you to master a universe of files with an amazingly simple interface (Figure B). With the Pydio Sync tool, you can determine how sync occurs between server and clients, enabling real-time, manual, or time-based synchronization. You can also determine whether users can sync an entire workspace or only subfolders within a workspace.

Figure B

Figure B
File syncing can be paused to avoid data loss (should work need to be done on the server), and Pydio lets users share files internally and externally. In addition, it offers the ability to create public "mini-sites" for publishing lists of documents on the internet. It provides an outstanding plug-in system to extend your solution, as well.

3: Openfiler

Openfiler (Figure C) is a powerful network storage solution that offers file-based network attached storage (NAS) and block-based storage area networking (SAN) functionality in a single, cohesive framework. Because of its flexibility, Openfiler allows you to deploy either a SAN or NAS solution, both with a simple web-based interface.

Figure C

Figure C
Believe it or not, this solution can be up and running in no time. The block-based storage has point-in-time snapshot support with scheduling as well as online volume size expanding. Openfiler features Windows domain controller support as well as built-in Samba support.

4: FreeNAS

FreeNAS (Figure D) is a rock solid open source NAS solution that delivers all the features your enterprise needs in a NAS solution. With this storage-built operating system, you'll enjoy replication, data protection, encryption, snapshots, file sharing, and a powerful plug-in system... all in an easy-to-use web interface.

Figure D

Figure D
FreeNas also includes a powerful reporting tool that keeps track of CPUs, disks, memory, network, partition, and system usage.

5: ProjectSend

ProjectSend (Figure E) is a bit different. Although it can (and does) serve as a storage solution for documents and files, its primary focus is enabling your company to share those documents/files with clients. Not only can you easily send documents and files to clients (without having to rely on a third-party solution), your clients can also upload files to you with ease. You can add individual clients and even create/manage client groups for more control.

Figure E

Figure E
Uploaded files are given a title and description and can be easily searched using the built-in search function. ProjectSend also includes a powerful email template system, so you can create company-specific email for notifications like new file by user, new file by client, new client, new user, and password reset.

What's worked for you?

There are many open source storage solutions available to fit enterprise needs. Whether you want to shell out the budget for big-time support and service, like you'll find with SUSE, or you want to do it all in-house, open source has you covered.
Have you used any of the solutions discussed here? Share your thoughts and experiences with fellow TechRepublic members.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Visa confirms Coinbase wasn’t at fault for overcharging users

By
Yesterday, we wrote that Coinbase customers were being charged multiple times for past transactions. While some speculated that the erroneous withdraws were down to a Coinbase engineering issue, Coinbase issued a statement saying it wasn’t liable for the duplicate charges. The blame, instead, rested with Visa for the way it handled a migration of merchant categories for cryptocurrencies, Coinbase said. While you can read my post yesterday for an in-depth description of what happened, the basic gist is that Visa refunded and recharged (under a different merchant category) a month of old transactions. Many users saw the recharge come through before the refund processed, making it look like they were double charged. Honestly, the issue was likely exacerbated by existing payment rails — it’s normal for refunds to take multiple days to show up on credit and debit statements. But here’s where it gets weird — this morning Visa issued a statement to some publications shifting the blam...
Post a Comment
Read more

Montana-based mapping startup onXmaps raises a round of funding fit for Big Sky Country

By
A mapping startup based in Missoula, Mont., which allows users to download sophisticated offline topographic maps outlining public and private lands and a number of other features geared towards hunting, fishing and camping, has pulled in its first major outside funding. onXmaps has closed a $20.3 million Series A round led by Summit Partners. Bessemer Venture Partners, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Next Frontier Capital and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke also participated in the round. The company is calling the fundraise one of the biggest ever among startups based in Montana. onX Hunt app This is impressively the first bout of outside funding that the 70-person startup has ever taken since being founded in 2009. The company’s founder and CEO Eric Siegfried, an avid outdoorsman himself, had created a more basic program to integrate these maps with his own Garmin GPS. After finding his friends were interested in having a product like this too, he put down $27k of his...
Post a Comment
Read more

Here’s how to keep track of Elon Musk’s Roadster and Starman in space

By
Elon Musk’s Starman, the mannequin driver of the Tesla Roadster SpaceX launched aboard its Falcon Heavy rocket, is taking a trip around our solar system, in a large elliptical orbit that will bring him relatively close to Mars, the Sun and other heavenly bodies. But how to track the trip, now that the Roadster’s onboard batteries are out of juice and no longer transmitting live footage? Thanks to the work of Ben Pearson, a SpaceX fan and electrical engineer working in the aerospace industry, who created ‘Where is Roadster,’ a website that makes use of JPL Horizons data to track the progress of the Roadster and Starman through space, and to predict its path and let you know when it’ll come close to meeting up with various planets and the Sun. The website tells you the Roadster’s current position, too, as well as its speed and whether it’s moving towards or away from Earth and Mars at any given moment. It’s not officially affiliated with SpaceX or Tesla, but it is something Elon...
Post a Comment
Read more

Engineering against all odds, or how NYC’s subway will get wireless in the tunnels

By
Never ask a wireless engineer working on the NYC subway system “What can go wrong?” Flooding, ice, brake dust, and power outages relentlessly attack the network components. Rats — many, many rats — can eat power and fiber optic cables and bring down the whole system. Humans are no different, as their curiosity or malice strikes a blow against wireless hardware (literally and metaphorically). Serverless software deployment to the cloud, this is not. New York City officially got wireless service in every underground subway station a little more than a year ago, and I was curious what work went into the buildout of this system as well as how it will expand in the future. That curiosity is part of a series of articles I’ve written on an observed pattern known as cost disease, the massively inflating costs of basic human services like health care, housing, infrastructure, and education. The United States spends trillions of dollars on each of these fields, massively outspending sim...
Post a Comment
Read more

How ad-free subscriptions could solve Facebook

By
At the core of Facebook’s “well-being” problem is that its business is directly coupled with total time spent on its apps. The more hours you pass on the social network, the more ads you see and click, the more money it earns. That puts its plan to make using Facebook healthier at odds with its finances, restricting how far it’s willing to go to protect us from the harms of over use. The advertising-supported model comes with some big benefits, though. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said that “We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone.” Ads lets Facebook remain free for those who don’t want to pay, and more importantly, for those around the world who couldn’t afford to. Ads pay for Facebook to keep the lights on, research and develop new technologies, and profit handsomely in a way that attracts top talent and further investment. More affluent users with more buying power in markets like the US, UK, and Canada command higher ad prices, effectively...
1 comment
Read more