NAS Server Question for Small Business

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Hi guys, im the guy from the other thread and we have established the HP Microserver Proliant with upgraded RAM and HDD to use, however one of our employees thinks its better, cheaper and possible to run a NAS Home Server, and Windows Home Server rather than a real server and Windows Server for our job but im sceptical can you enlighten me on this NAS Server? As i thought it was merely backup and storage.

https://certforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=376085#post376085

 

Stick CentOS or SuSe on it and install Samba. He'll get used to it

 

Home server is pretty much a glorified media streaming server. It may be possible to get it to do the things you need in a business, but it's really going to lack flexibility.

Get the right tool for the right job ...

 

My immediate thoughts - don't do it. Your running a business, use business class equipment. A lot of the headaches I get in SMB support are when the companies opt to purchase something themselves without asking for advice and end up with home based items that are not suitable for the job. A few hundred pounds saved on the initial purchase won't make up for the additional costs that when it's realised that the solution was unsuitable and needs upgrading or replacing.

Specifically referring to WHS MS have removed their redundancy And drive extender capability (http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/...server-code-name-vail-and-drive-extender.aspx) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server#Drive_Extender) so be very aware of that.

If you want a NAS solution take a look at a QNAP TurboNAS or simliar. I've just prepared two (of the 4 bay versions) for a client and I'm impressed with the level of control, the feature set it has and it's expandability.

 

I use WHS at home but I would never use it in a work environment. Stick with something like the Iomega IX4 (I use 2 of them) or Netgear NAS solutions. If you have two of them you can set them up for further redundancy (again something I do).

 

We use an HP Storage server for a NAS and for a business it has great flexibility. Like others already mentioned, you should opt for a business solution rather than a home based solution.