Which is the best set up for a fileserver in the network?

thanos155 · 11-16-2005, 05:57 PM

I am considering getting a new machine to add extra storage in my network. I need to keep files in there that will be served from web-servers running on two other machines on the same network.

The question is should I export these files with nfs to the web-servers or should I just run a web-server there as well, that will only serve the purpose of sending stuff to the other machines, but not hosting any web-pages?

web-server1 web-server2
|____________|
|
file-server

In the above set-up should I write:
<html>
.....
<img src="http://fileserver......./pics/img1.jpg">
.....
</html>
in all pages served from either of the web-servers and contain a file stored in the fileserver.

OR

should I mount the path where the files are stored in FILE-SERVER locally on each of the web-servers?

Does it make any difference if these files are actually stored in a RAID on FILE-SERVER?

Thanks a lot,
thanos

Riddick · 11-16-2005, 07:08 PM

if you set NFS well, and with good ip-spoofing protection on the server, I would go for that option.

NFS is reliable and fast!
(at least in my experience)

Riddick

thanos155 · 11-17-2005, 05:02 PM

Thanks for the reply,

I have a couple more questions though...
- Are there any other alternative solutions to the problem that are worth having a look at?
- NFS would not present any unpleasant surprises when exporting stuff stored on a RAID. In particular RAID5 on a controller card.
- Why would I need to use IP spoofing?

Thanks a lot in advance,
Thanos

thanos155 · 11-19-2005, 06:54 AM

Hi,

Managed to find answers to my other questions...

Still, as stupid a question as it might sound, why would I need IP SPOOFING in this configuration?
Am I missing something important?

Thanks,
thanos

Riddick · 11-23-2005, 03:25 AM

I suggested IP Spoofing protection, because of how NFS works.
NFS should only be used in an internal network, and you
should set it up only to allow connections from the server you
want. Just to make sure noone can access it from the outside
while pretending to have an IP from your internal network,
I suggested to turn on IP spoofing protection!

Riddick