OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management

English 421 Project 3

Chad Mollmann
Daniel Parker
Kati Thompson
Kirk Smith
 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
In Brief ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 3
Steps of the Research ............................................................................................................................... 4
Online Research .................................................................................................................................... 4
Professor Interview Results .................................................................................................................. 5
Home OpenFiler setup .......................................................................................................................... 6
Discussion of Results ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Advantages............................................................................................................................................ 7
Disadvantages ....................................................................................................................................... 8
OpenFiler Configuration............................................................................................................................ 8
Team Member Findings: Scale of 1 – 10 (1 being worst, 10 being best) .................................................. 9
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 11

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 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

Introduction

This paper is intended to provide useful and relevant

information to small and home office users that are In Brief
looking to expand their network’s functionality.  OpenFiler is an operating system that
provides network-attached storage.
OpenFiler can offer block-level storage that appears
 OpenFiler is based on the CentOS
to a client computer as an internal hard drive. operating system.
OpenFiler is an operating system that provides basic  OpenFiler is free software licensed
Network Attached Storage and Storage Attached under the GNU General Public License.
Networks. OpenFiler can offer many different  OpenFiler supports many protocols
services, including NFS, FTP, Samba, and iSCSI such as:
shares. The purpose of this paper is to inform o SMB/CIFS
o NFS
readers of the advantages of OpenFiler, how it is
o HTTP
used, what it does well, and where it comes up o FTP
short. This paper will stay away from in-depth o iSCSI
technical details, and try to provide a general view of  OpenFiler has small system
OpenFiler and how it works. requirements, such as:
 512MB RAM
It is based on the Linux operating system, and is  100MB Ethernet Card
considered free software under the GNU Public  1GB disk space for install
License. OpenFiler does a very good job at offering  1GHz or better processor
easily accessible network storage for a low cost and low resource overhead.

The following paragraphs will analyze the research question: What practical uses does OpenFiler offer
for someone looking to set up a small or home office network, and do these advantages outweigh the
disadvantages? This paper will also include information on the methodology we used to conduct our
research, the results of the research, and a concluding discussion about our results.

Methodology
The group did some very high-level information gathering. Some of this included researching on the
Internet, interviewing CIT professors, and hands-on experience. After doing preliminary research, our
group decided that OpenFiler is an incredibly powerful resource and can be especially beneficial if used
under the right circumstances.

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 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

The first step of our research was to get a general view of what OpenFiler is and how it works. This was
done by using group member’s existing knowledge as well as getting a basic understanding by
researching on the internet. After getting some basic information on the internet, it was obvious that
secondary research was imperative in order to complete a meaningful report. The next step in the
group’s research was to interview a professor in the College of Technology. The professor chosen was
Phillip Rawles, an assistant professor in the College of Technology, who teaches classes that implement
OpenFiler. The last step in our research process was to set up a real working network that incorporated
OpenFiler and to experiment with it and see how it works and what it does well.

This study cannot hope to accurately recreate an enterprise-level environment to fully utilize OpenFiler.
However, our group decided to research the usefulness of OpenFiler in a small or home office network,
and to leave the enterprise level research for another time. Therefore, this research focuses on small or
home office network implementations. Another problem with this study is the group’s time constraints
and our ability to meet and conduct useable research. However, we feel the research conducted is
beneficial and will help readers understand the usefulness of OpenFiler.

Steps of the Research

Online Research
The first thing that was done was to research OpenFiler online. Many resources were used, such as
www.openfiler.com, www.sourceforge.net, and www.linuxquestions.org. www.openfiler.com is the
main website for OpenFiler. It gives the most information and documentation on OpenFiler. Source
Forge is an open source software database. Linux Questions is a forum for Linux users, and their
questions. It is a very good resource for troubleshooting and guides. There are a few basic principles
about OpenFiler and how exactly it works:

First, OpenFiler is a separate operating system that runs on a computer, much like Windows or OS X.
This means that OpenFiler cannot be used on the same computer as another operating system, unless it
is virtualized. OpenFiler is set up as follows:

Network Shares

Client Computer
OpenFiler

The client computer connects to the OpenFiler share (OpenFiler advertises ‘shares’ which appear to the
computer as a hard drive) and can then use the storage space provided on its hard drives. The share will
show up exactly like an internal hard drive.

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 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

The next item that came up in our research was the different types of protocols that OpenFiler supports.
Here is a quick table that shows what the protocol is, what it is, and what it does.

Protocol What is it? What does it do?

SMB/CIFS Server Message Block, or
basically Windows sharing
protocol. This is the protocol
UNIX machines use to
communicate with Windows
boxes.
NFS Network File System. This allows
a computer to access files over a
network in a manner similar to
how a local hard drive would be
accessed.
HTTP Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol.
This is the protocol that the
internet runs on.
iSCSI Internet Small Computing
System Interface. It is a file-
sharing protocol that runs on the
internet.
FTP File Transfer Protocol. This is
what is usually used to access
the Purdue H drive from off
campus.
Allows OpenFiler, a UNIX
operating system, to
communicate with Windows.
NFS is mainly used to
communicate between UNIX and
Linux machines, although
Windows offers support for NFS
as well.
This allows the access of file
through a web browser.
It allows the access of files over
the internet, as well as the
mounting of hard drives through
an Ethernet cable.
This is used to copy one file over
to another host over the
internet.

Professor Interview Results

The next step of research was to interview the College of Technology Professor, Phillip Rawles, with
experience using OpenFiler. Some of the main topics that were pursued in the interview where whether
or not OpenFiler was a viable technology to use in the home and what the advantages and
disadvantages of OpenFiler were. According to Professor Rawles, “OpenFiler is a very viable solution to
implement any of the previously listed protocols, but most importantly iSCSI.” It is especially useful in
the small and home office network, which is what the group is focusing on. OpenFiler’s most useful item
is that it can offer iSCSI hard drive shares. According to Professor Rawles, iSCSI is useful because it is
cheap, it works over Ethernet, it is widely deployed, and it offers moderate performance.

Advantages and Disadvantages of iSCSI

Advantages
Inexpensive
Works over Ethernet
Widespread Deployment
Good enough performance
Disadvantages
Not always reliable
Mediocre speeds
Requires expensive hardware to
reach its true performance peak

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 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

First, the cost of iSCSI is small compared to some other technologies. One of the main reasons to use or
not use a new technology today is its cost. This is one of the areas where iSCSI shines. iSCSI’s main
competing technology is Fibre Channel. iSCSI is significantly less expensive than Fibre Channel, and
usually easier to implement. All iSCSI needs to run, besides the server itself, is a working network
connection. This brings up the next advantage, the fact that iSCSI works over Ethernet.

Since iSCSI works over Ethernet, all prior knowledge about Ethernet and switching is applicable. This
means someone implementing iSCSI for the first time doesn’t have to spend a lot of time trying to learn
a new technology, since it runs over technology that is already in place. Almost any network can be set
up to use iSCSI, since every computer is connected via wireless or wired networks, which uses the same
IP protocol.

The next advantage of iSCSI is that it is already widely deployed. iSCSI is not a new technology, and there
are already many commercial and free solutions available to someone looking to create an iSCSI share.

Operating Systems offering support of iSCSI

Windows
Solaris
UNIX
Linux
FreeBSD
Mac OS X
VMware ESX

Last, iSCSI offers decent performance compared to other internet sharing technologies. iSCSI can
transfer at up to 130 MB/sec over a standard Gigabit Ethernet cable. It can be even faster when using
jumbo frames or 10 Gigabit Ethernet cable.

These advantages are iSCSI advantages, not OpenFiler. However, OpenFiler, as a network sharing
system, is most often used to share iSCSI drives. In terms of creating a small or home office network
running an iSCSI share, OpenFiler does it very well and for the lowest cost – free.

Overall, after interviewing Professor Rawles, it was obvious that OpenFiler was a very powerful tool that
shone not only when sharing iSCSI drives, but in other ways as well, mainly in its cost to implement and
deploy.

Home OpenFiler setup

Last, the group set up an OpenFiler operating system and. OpenFiler was installed and configured
following the guides online here: http://www.openfiler.com/learn/how-to/graphical-installation. After
OpenFiler was installed, a small 20GB iSCSI share was created, as well as an SMB/NFS share.
Performance was then monitored and uses for OpenFiler were evaluated. The group noticed that the
shares were easy to configure, and once the share was up, the speed was fast to transfer between the
share and the computer. A proper install of OpenFiler would require a server, such as an HP Proliant

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DL380, but OpenFiler can be run on any computer that supports an operating system. This is why
OpenFiler is so useful for the small home or office. An enterprise level server for a business can cost
upwards of $10,000. You can set up an OpenFiler install with all the basic features of a more expensive
one for pennies compared to the high-end solutions.

The group also explored OpenFiler’s authentication methods and solutions. Because files on a share
should occasionally not be available to everyone, the group placed user account authentication on the
NFS share. It was verified that only users with the correct username and password could then connect to
the share. Network access lists can also be used in OpenFiler, which state that only computers with a
certain IP address can see or connect to a certain share. This is useful because it is an easy way to
implement basic authentication. OpenFiler can authenticate through Active Domain, such as in
Windows, or NFS like in Linux.

After completing these three steps of research, the group formulated its results and opinions of
OpenFiler, and its advantages and disadvantages.

Discussion of Results
Based on our research we have come to several conclusions about OpenFiler that suggest it would be
beneficial to someone setting up a home office under most circumstances, the exception being
someone who has no need for a network share. One thing we were able to determine is the advantages
and disadvantages, as shown in this table:

Advantages and Disadvantages of the OpenFiler Operating System

Advantages Disadvantages
Cheap Cannot compete with high-end solutions
Easy to implement Provided as-is
Easily managed through the web GUI No guarantee of documentation
Moderate performance
Supported and updated by OpenFiler

Advantages
The most important advantage about OpenFiler is its price to implement and configure. OpenFiler itself
is free software. The only other thing needed to configure a network that takes advantage of OpenFiler
is a separate computer with enough storage to offer a viable network share. This means that old
computers not being used anymore can be converted into an OpenFiler machine. This helps to
significantly reduce the cost of an OpenFiler installation. For a small network, attached to 2 -5 client
machines, 100GB of storage would be plenty to share important documents, files, and movies. A
comparative setup that uses the latest technology and high-end hardware would cost somewhere
between 5,000 – $10,000.

The second advantage is how easy it is to implement and configure. Since OpenFiler can be configured
on any older computer, you don’t need expensive hardware, so the preparation for an OpenFiler

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network is small. After OpenFiler is installed, all that needs to be configured on the machine itself is the
IP address. Once the IP is set, the web GUI can be accessed from any web browser from any computer
on the same network. After navigating to the web GUI, OpenFiler is very simple and easy to configure.

The last advantage the group discovered was the performance of OpenFiler. OpenFiler offers moderate
performance for its cost. A small network can easily be run off of OpenFiler with little to no noticeable
latency on the network. This is a very important concept when it comes to computers on the same
domain, since latency can affect every single one of them. OpenFiler does a good job of alleviating this
because it keeps write and read speeds low when other services are using the network. However, any
small network with average usage will never get to the point that OpenFiler bogs down the network.

Disadvantages
The group did find a couple of disadvantages. However, we feel that the advantage outweigh the
disadvantages when it come to OpenFiler. The main disadvantages addressed were:

OpenFiler is free open-source software, which means it comes with no warranty. This could be a
problem for a business that encounters a problem, since there will be no guarantee of anyone there to
help. However, this is one of the main reasons this group decided to focus on OpenFiler being used in a
small or home office network. When OpenFiler is used in a scenario like this, this doesn’t really become
as much as a disadvantage as it could be. It is definitely something that should be considered though.

The second disadvantage is that OpenFiler does not have lots of documentation available for it. There is
tons of information available about OpenFiler, but no published material. This means that some
information that is found could be wrong or not apply to the type of scenario that you are using. This is a
disadvantage but it isn’t a huge one unless serious problems are encountered. The available
documentation should be more than enough to allow any basic home user to set up their own network.

OpenFiler Configuration
A virtual machine was created on a PC running Windows 7 and OpenFiler was installed. Once OpenFiler
was installed, two shares we created using half of the hard drive space. One NFS share and one iSCSI
share were created. The group then explored how to connect to these shares and how they would be
useful. iSCSI can only be used by one computer at once, therefore it is not necessarily suitable for a
share that more than one user needs to connect to. However, it offers network booting and can be used
as an internal hard drive for a computer that has no operating system installed. NFS is the suitable
choice for a share with many users. The whole group could connect to the share, and pass files and
folders back and forth to each other. The share was also used as a backup solution, so the group could
put important documents on the share so they could be recovered in the event of a hard drive failure or
something of the sort.

Some results of team member’s opinions are found here:

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 OpenFiler – Open Source Storage Management 2010

Team Member Findings: Scale of 1 – 10 (1 being worst, 10 being best)

Team Member Ease of Use Ease of Usefulness of Overall Opinion
Understanding OpenFiler
Kirk 7 8 8.5 9
Kati 7 8 10 8
Danny 7 8 9 9
Chad 6 7 8 7.5

Some uses the group found and came up with for OpenFiler are as follows:

 Movie share
 Additional storage for older computers
 Data backup / recovery
 Network Booting
 Offer virtual machine space
 Allow access to a hard drive or share from anywhere

Conclusion
The research question all this information was based on was: What practical uses does OpenFiler offer
for someone looking to set up a small or home office network, and do these advantages outweigh the
disadvantages?

After the completion of the research, the group came to a few conclusions:

The first conclusion is that OpenFiler is useful and practical to set up in a small or home office network.
Basically, the advantages outweigh disadvantages. The face that OpenFiler is low cost, offering
moderate performance, and easy to use are huge advantages compared to its disadvantages. For
someone looking to set up a backup solution or file-sharing solution in a scenario such as a home or
small office network, OpenFiler really has no competition. OpenFiler offers moderate performance
compared to its competitors. It can transfer at speed up to 100 Mbps on straight Ethernet, and even
faster if fiber is involved. The operating system itself is also very light and doesn’t require many
resources to run. OpenFiler is open source, which means that it is free software. It only needs a
processor and hard drive to run off of, so it is very low cost. Another advantage of OpenFiler was its ease
of use. OpenFiler has an easy to use web GUI, so it doesn’t require any knowledge of how Linux works or
any of its commands.

This brings us to our second result that OpenFiler is best set up in a small or home office network. It can
benefit a larger enterprise network, but it doesn’t have all the features that a larger company would
need. Since it is open source, it is offered with no warranty and little documentation, which a larger
company would need. However, for someone just looking to create a share, or a company with few
employees, OpenFiler is a great solution. OpenFiler also offers network booting, so the shared drive can

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be used to install Windows to and have the computer boot from it. An example of this is the computers
in the iTaP labs at Purdue. The computers there do not actually use the hard drives inside them to boot
off of, rather, they use the network and connect to a share, much like OpenFiler offers.

Overall, the group feels that OpenFiler is a very valuable resource that is very powerful and can be great
when used in the right situation. There is no harm in trying it out either, since it is free, it can be used
and experimented with before actually implementing, and thus ensuring that OpenFiler is needed or
useful. If anyone has need for storage management software that is cheap, easy to use, and powerful,
OpenFiler is the way to go.

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Works Cited
Davis, D. (2009, January 8). Use OpenFiler as your Free VMware ESX SAN Server. Retrieved April 14,
2010, from Petri IT Knowledgebas: http://www.petri.co.il/use-openfiler-as-free-vmware-esx-san-
server.htm

Geeknet, Inc. (2010). SourceForge.net: Find and Develop Open Source Software. Retrieved April 14, 2010,
from SourceForge.net: Software Week: http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/

Google Inc. (2010). Google. Retrieved April 2010, from Google: www.google.com

LinuxQuestions.org. (2010). LinuxQuestions.org. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from LinuxQuestions.org -

where Linux users come for help: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions

OpenFiler. (2009). Openfiler - Open Source Storage Management Appliance . Retrieved April 15, 2010,
from Openfiler - Open Source Storage Management Appliance : http://www.openfiler.com

Rawles, P. T. (2010, April 20). College of Technology Professor. (D. Parker, K. Thompson, C. Mollmann, &
K. Smith, Interviewers)

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