RAID on Rye

A Linux Network File Server With RAID Storage... Inside A Toaster!

The one on the left was built in 2001; the other was just completed.

At first glance they resemble a pair of toasters, but don't fail to look in the slots. There you'll find a jumble of wires, a fan, an Ethernet interface, and a PCB. Inside each of these toasters is a complete x86 computer, a pair of hard drives in a mirrored RAID set, running a headless network attached Linux file server. And no, this is not a joke, this is crisply serious.

From the outside, they look like a toaster. Inside is an x86 computer.

We had the opportunity to look at some of Dave Goeke's storage projects, which deal with placing a complete file server solution into a toaster. Dave provided enough information to make this article a beginners' guide to building your own Toaster RAID.