Recently in Network Storage Category

If your IT department is being squeezed by the downturn in the economy but still needs to add let's say a storage area network (SAN) then why not do it yourself (DIY). Sure you could contact your favorite hardware vendor like Dell, HP, IBM etc., but when you compare the costs of an off the shelf product compared to the DIY project you'll realize big savings, in our case around 50%.

My company currently has a need for SAN. Based on our needs we decided to go with a 24 TB SATA in 4U form. Total cost for parts, taxes and shipping $9,500 Canadian. Comparable vendor systems start at around $30,000.

We generally buy Supermicro boards and chassis as they're good quality at a good price. Our operating system (OS) of choice is FreeBSD. Here's the basic specifications we used.