use Synology NAS to host open dental database as spare

[epicurean]

I have a spare Synology 206 NAS. I wonder if I can use it as a spare for the opendental mysql database, and operate via the NAS if my PC serving as peer to peer comes down.

I understand Synology NAS comes with mysql support.

thanks!

[Manny Ramirez]

I am sure that I will make a great backup solutions for your network. As far as being used as a server it depends. The applicance will need a good processor and decent memory. Most entry model NAS devices come with an Atom processor. Take into concideration the I/O subsystem that come with the applicance. I/O will affect the throughput/performance of the system. Also the RAID level being implemented. Most entry level NAS will only support RAID zero and one; and SATA drives. SATA NAS devices are not really good for production environment with lots of I/O intensive application. They are great for backups and storage (which does not require intensive I/O). Professional NAS devices support SAS drives which are meant for these type of situations. You can use RAID0 and RAID5 (most recommended) with 7200 to 10000 RPM hard drives.

I once tested a Netgear NAS but it froze a lot. I tried applying the OppLocks feature along with other tweaks but no cigar.

Something that is becoming quite popular these days is ISCSI SANs/ NAS,. ISCSI litterally adds another volume to your PC using the built-in ISCSI initiator (part of Windows XP and above) and connect to the ISCSI targe (your SAN/NAS). Make sure that your NAS/SAN has good specs though.

If you decide to give a shot let us know how it goes

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[bcpayne]

I actually looked into this and almost bought hardware based on this concept. That is to have my NAS use the built in MySQL server to also serve opendental. THE PROBLEM... not even the higher end NAS's run MySQL 5, which is required, at least for the version I am using, 11.1.
Once I got it all up and running on my test system at home using my home synology NAS, I was biting my nails as opendental opened, and boy was I dissapointed when it gave a warning that, you can try using this on older MySQL but it's technically not compatible and you will probably get a lot of errors and have to restart your server several times a day. No Thanks.

I couldn't find a way to update the MySQL server on the device, or any NAS for that matter. If you are a Linux guru, then you could probably make it happen, but I'm just a dabbler in Linux. If it's not a double-clickable install file, then I probably can't make it work

[epicurean]

bcpayne,

Thank you. Your experience is most helpful.

[Manny Ramirez]

Update:
I tested the QNAP TS-439 Pro II+ Turbo NAS. Worked like a charm. Installed four 2TB Seagate Constallation SATA drive ( in a RAID 5 array) I used the ISCSI intiator in Windows 7, created a ISCSI target, added a 1 TB LUN and then mounted the LUN (Volume) locally to the Windws 7 machine and gave it the letter D, then proceed to formatted it with NFTS. Continue to custom-installed OD and MYSQL to point to D for everything. Pretty impressed, this particual NAS does use SATA Drives. The Seagate Constellations are designed for performance. These guys put out 6GP/s. the only downside is the price on these bad boy) I even played a movie while accessing OD without much degradation. I did have a separate VLAN for the NAS and the SCSI initiator. A pretty good feature on this NAS is the backup. I was able to backup the entire LUN to an exteral USB HD in about 20 to 25 mins. This NAS comes with Cloud Storage backup in mind. They added an Amazon S3 client. You can send your data offsite to the cloud .. Umm not bad.

I hope this help

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[bcpayne]

Are you using the qnap just to store the MySQL database? Or are you actually running the MySQL server from the qnap, so that you point your open dental workstations to the qnap for the database? I Checked qnap, and the newest MySQL version they mention is 5.1 which I don't think OD will play nice with.
I don't see much of an advantage to running MySQL on one computer and storing the database on a NAS. Seems to just increase network traffic with the risk of errors due to network hiccups.

I also tried installing freeNAS on a pc with plans to add MySQL to it. Unfortunately this surpassed my Linux knowledge so I gave up.

My next plan is to build a good window 7 machine and to run a virtual freeNAS machine on it, to avoid the network folder sharing limit while still having a familiar windows environment for my MySQL server.
Please point out any flaws in this plan if you see it

[bpcomp]

I'm not familiar with the network folder sharing limit. Could you please explain a bit or point me to an article that describes what it is?

If it's any help, there are walk throughs on how to install mysql on a freenas box. One example is:
http://www.howtoforge.com/installing-my ... on-freenas

[jordansparks]

We discuss it on this page:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/comput ... ments.html

[bpcomp]

Ahhh, simultaneous connections limit. Then the limit or difficulty I see in running a virtual freenas is setting up the proper routing from host to guest etc. and the decreased performance of running virtually. Personally I'd rather spend the energy learning how to get mysql up and running on freenas. But if you feel more comfortable the other way and are better able to administer that setup and don't mind the performance hit, then by all means go for it and let us know how it goes. Good luck

[bcpayne]

Well, after spending my first week on OD having one computer at a time that couldn't connect to the Share drive, I now have a virtual FreeNAS server running and all computers connected, at the same time even .
Not sure why I had the problem, because we only have about 10 computers, but I think there were multiple connections per pc since some have more than one user, running at the same time.

I was surprised how easy it was to get FreeNAS running on a VMWare virtual machine. I set it up to be "physically connected" to the network, so it has it's own ip address and truly acts like a separate server. I just created a new virtual drive as our office file storage. No special routing or anything, just created a windows share on the virtual drive, and it showed up on all the pc's in the office. I ran into a problem though this morning, because it doesn't run as a service, so needs to be started after a reboot. So after a power outage this weekend, the girls came to the office and couldn't access OD.
I can't say if this is going to be slow running virtual, but the speed seemed similar on a large file transfer test to both the virtual freenas and another gigabit pc.
I haven't determined how to get a solid automatic backup plan from this setup, but shouldn't be hard to backup to my pc which has crashplan installed.

I found good instuctions on installing mysql to freenas, but it was for a previous version and now FreeNAS locks the OS drive as a read only file system, so without a new tutorial I am hosed.

[bpcomp]

I think this might be your problem.

http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.ph ... ight=mysql

[Manny Ramirez]

The ISCSI protocol is used by most professinal storage company an it is slowly replacing expesive Fiber Channel technology. I had no network degradation in my test environment . I used a separte VLAN in between the NAS and the Windows ISCSI intiator.That way I know for sure that the only devices communicating in this LAN are these two devices. I made small variation later in my the test environment with only one LAN to simplify the process. The peformance was .. well pretty much the same. The ISCSI protocol makes the whole process much simpler by creating a disk that seems like being physically attached to your computer from a Windows 7 perspective. Think of it as cracking the box open and adding a disk. Once you have a second disk then it is Windows as usual. No need to have the staff learing Freenas or Linux
In the long run, this can also make your troubleshooting process much simpler. I really don't think the support team is really trained to troubleshoot Freenas problems .
In my opinion, running a Virtual Machine to run Freenas is more of hardware intensive situation for the host computer perpective; in this case you are better off runnig FreeNas in bear metal. I prefer having a device in the network do the heavy lifting. Also from a backup perspective, the qnap has a front USB port which makes it easy to backup your NAS to an external USB Drive. The box also has added Amazon S3 Cloud support so you can send your data to the cloulds so you can feel about not loosing your info just in case of fatal catastrophe.

PD: Windows 7 now supports 20 connections theorically. That should be more then plenty for a small peer-to-peer. By the way, I don't for Microsof or Qnap

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