NAS That Can Support Multiple Users

[RichmondTech]

I recently picked up a real estate agency that has less than 10 computers in the office. Currently the main desktop has a shared folder that all the agents dump stuff into. The agents are instructed not to save data on the individual machines because if anything happens to the computer the client automatically does a system restore. The problem is now the main desktop that has all this data is getting slow for whatever reason and the client wants to wipe it, but can't.

I offered the solution of a NAS which would function the same way and free up this desktop and the client likes it. I asked a few more questions and we determined that in addition to a shared folder that it would be nice for the agents to have their own private folders. The client started talking about a server but since it's data storage I'm thinking a NAS that you can create multiple user folders would be just fine.

Question is does anyone have first hand knowledge of a specific NAS that can support a public folder that I can map as a network drive as well as create individual user folders that I can map as separate network drives? Bonus points if it allows an administrator to easily view all of the folders for easy backups or to make sure they're not storing things they shouldn't be storing.

 

[red12049]

I recently picked up a real estate agency that has less than 10 computers in the office. Currently the main desktop has a shared folder that all the agents dump stuff into. The agents are instructed not to save data on the individual machines because if anything happens to the computer the client automatically does a system restore. The problem is now the main desktop that has all this data is getting slow for whatever reason and the client wants to wipe it, but can't.

I offered the solution of a NAS which would function the same way and free up this desktop and the client likes it. I asked a few more questions and we determined that in addition to a shared folder that it would be nice for the agents to have their own private folders. The client started talking about a server but since it's data storage I'm thinking a NAS that you can create multiple user folders would be just fine.

Question is does anyone have first hand knowledge of a specific NAS that can support a public folder that I can map as a network drive as well as create individual user folders that I can map as separate network drives? Bonus points if it allows an administrator to easily view all of the folders for easy backups or to make sure they're not storing things they shouldn't be storing.

Intellinet for one, although from what I've seen most any NAS ought to handle this with no problem.

Rick

 

[iisjman07]

You could get a really old machine and make a freeNAS box out of it. The requirements for 10 users or less would be llllllloooooowwwwww, and freeNAS is simple to setup, free, open source, etc, etc. Chuck in a raid card and hey presto.

 

[MobileTechie]

Any NAS can support multiple users. For a business you'd want to check out the exact specs from the manufacturers to ensure it meets their needs. The ones I've used have been QNAP and Symbology.

 

[AJ.]

That FreeNAS looks awesome.
Based in FreeBSD... pretty cool!

 

[RichmondTech]

Yeah, not really looking at FreeNAS since the last thing we want is another computer due to size, energy draw, etc.

I was looking at this since D-Link makes it seem like ShareCenter is pretty flexible and can do what I want.

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DNS-321-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B0019OZ3OO#productfeatures

 

[ProTech-MN]

I've had really good experiences with Netgear's ReadyNAS line...

-Randy

 

[MobileTechie]

I wouldn't be too keen on using domestic level products in a business to be honest.

 

[ProTech-MN]

I wouldn't be too keen on using domestic level products in a business to be honest.

+1

I don't use or recommend any consumer grade products for businesses.

-Randy

 

[pcpickup]

I have been building and installing FreeNas at clients for a while. It's a great product. I have been building them often with Inter Atom boards with passive cooling in a standard ATX case with a good power supply. Using standard parts makes swapping out a board easy if there is a hardware issue. Some of the canned NAS solutions with propriety hardware are usually very locked down in terms of features and rarely provide cost savings over building a freenas box.

You do need some linux command experience to get all the permissions setup but it workds great. I have some of my clients using this system setup with off site backup that store at my office and for the clients on a super small budget I just have the system backing up to on site USB drives attached to the system.

As for scalability I have one of my transportation companies utilizing the box with 45 users sharing excel files and such with out an issue. The only time I had a problem was about a year ago I had an accounting office and their software used some type of special oplocks setting that was simple enough to fix by adding the extra parameter to Samba in the web interface.