On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 5:28 AM,  <shwegime@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted text
>>
>>> Hello, I'm considering buying a Soekris net5501-70 and install OpenBSD on
>>> it
>>> to make myself a small server and use it as a proxy (ssh tunnel), it
>>> might
>>> serve as backup file sever as well. I guess at the most there will be
>>> two-three computers connnected at the same time, and there might be some
>>> streaming video going through, like the videos you find on online
>>> newspapers. I have googled around, and read that this kind of hardware is
>>> fine as a router but not so much as a server. Is it true?
>>> Thank you for any suggestions.
>>> I was also considering using a netbook for the task. What about it?
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>
>
I own a 45xx series Soekris system which handles DMZ traffic (2 low load
production web servers + RCS repositories, and 3 build systems for MariaDB),
internal traffic (my home network for streaming movies and internet access)
and ssh access to my DMZ just fine.  The specifications for the Soekris
system you mentioned don't lead me to be believe they'd be great for file
server duty.  When I think of file servers I think of fast disk (5501 can
use SATA so that's a plus) coupled with a battery backed RAID controller
with gobs of cache and redundancy somewhere preserving my data in case of
disk failure.  If your disk goes on the 5501 I imagine you're toast unless
you have a continual backup process that doesn't chew your available
bandwidth to zero.


quoted text
> So, if I use it only for ssh tunneling both soekris and netbook would be
> fine? Of course, it has to be on 24*7.
>
>
When I think of these machines and similar ones I think "configuration file
backup and restore."  What I mean by that is you should be OK with waking up
one day and finding your machine dead but able to get backup and running in
a less than 20 minutes using a new device and your configuration file
backups.  I am NOT implying Soekris boards are unreliable, I love mine and
would buy more if I needed to, but I am saying that planning for failure
should be one of the first things considered when you're constructing a
critical piece of your home/business network.