Are there any open source OS similar to Snap! that'll literally convert existing PC hardware into a NAS appliance? I'm looking for something that's Linux based with support for Appletalk and Windows shares out of the box with GUI web-based admin and config. I know I could setup Linux for this but I'd much rather not deal with the tedious work. Any suggestions?
Dedicated >open source< network storage OS?
- Thread starter thirdlegstump
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Nothinman
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- Sep 14, 2001
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I've always hated the term NAS, all it is is an attempt to sell people an overpowered box with a ton of disk space in crappy IDE disks. We got a few Dell NASes a few years back with Windows on them and they were actually using Windows software RAID5. Needless to say, they got Linux put on them very quickly.
And there's almost no tedious work to be done, installing Linux, Samba and Netatalk with a few shares should take 2hrs at most unless you're shooting for a really complicated setup. As long as you don't need software support it would be the much better solution IMO, you'll actually understand how the thing is setup so you can troubleshoot problems and you'll be able to keep the box updated quicker/easier.
And there's almost no tedious work to be done, installing Linux, Samba and Netatalk with a few shares should take 2hrs at most unless you're shooting for a really complicated setup. As long as you don't need software support it would be the much better solution IMO, you'll actually understand how the thing is setup so you can troubleshoot problems and you'll be able to keep the box updated quicker/easier.
I'm just hoping to convert an old PII-III box with mirrored storage for Windows and Mac users with user administration. Aren't there any distros with Samba and Netatalk installed ready to boot already?
Nothinman
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Possibly, but you'll end up having to configure them afterwards anyway so adding a step of 'apt-get install samba netatalk' isn't exactly a big deal, IMO. And you can always install webmin and see if you like using that to configure them, although you'll most likely have to download the netatalk webmin module seperately.
Yeah I've done more or less the same thing with believe it or not Mandrake
I'm not the most technical linux user ,, but it must have taken be about an hour or so to configure
I know there are os's like NASLite but they do require purchase
I'm not the most technical linux user ,, but it must have taken be about an hour or so to configure
I know there are os's like NASLite but they do require purchase
There are a few pre-configured setups like ClarkConnect that are Linux.
But you have to understand that any Linux distro has ample capabilities. When you using it your using the same software that is used in a range of hardware from Geode-based embedded platforms to servers multi-million dollar fortune 500 companies.
Remote administration is accomplished thru a veriaty of means. If your using a Linux desktop you can use X-over-SSH to get remote GUI apps running on your local computer. You can use putty.exe to get command line access to your computers (The unix shell is what all professionals use the most of.). You have Webmin that provides web-based configurations. Different services like CUPS printing has webbassed configurations by default. You have VNC and all that.
So if you want 'NAS' to mean: "Network storage computer that requires no keyboard/monitor/mouse", any Linux distro can fuffill that role in spades.
My personal recommendation is to use Debian Stable. When you select the 'file server' role in the setup I beleive it installs NFS, SAMBA (Windows network file and print services), and Appletalk by default. You'll have to install Webmin thru apt-get, but that should take all of 13 minutes to do.
The hard part is getting use to debian, linux, and apt-get. It is worth it, beleive me. You can use those skills directly to deploying all sorts of software from BSD unix boxes, to using Ubuntu as easy-to-use desktop systems, and so on and so forth. And it is one of the few Linux distros that has half-way decent documentation.
Otherwise if you don't want to put any work in check out semi-commercial setups like Clarkconnect, which may or may not be the best choice.
Check out Google and http://distrowatch.com/ for more details.
But you have to understand that any Linux distro has ample capabilities. When you using it your using the same software that is used in a range of hardware from Geode-based embedded platforms to servers multi-million dollar fortune 500 companies.
Remote administration is accomplished thru a veriaty of means. If your using a Linux desktop you can use X-over-SSH to get remote GUI apps running on your local computer. You can use putty.exe to get command line access to your computers (The unix shell is what all professionals use the most of.). You have Webmin that provides web-based configurations. Different services like CUPS printing has webbassed configurations by default. You have VNC and all that.
So if you want 'NAS' to mean: "Network storage computer that requires no keyboard/monitor/mouse", any Linux distro can fuffill that role in spades.
My personal recommendation is to use Debian Stable. When you select the 'file server' role in the setup I beleive it installs NFS, SAMBA (Windows network file and print services), and Appletalk by default. You'll have to install Webmin thru apt-get, but that should take all of 13 minutes to do.
The hard part is getting use to debian, linux, and apt-get. It is worth it, beleive me. You can use those skills directly to deploying all sorts of software from BSD unix boxes, to using Ubuntu as easy-to-use desktop systems, and so on and so forth. And it is one of the few Linux distros that has half-way decent documentation.
Otherwise if you don't want to put any work in check out semi-commercial setups like Clarkconnect, which may or may not be the best choice.
Check out Google and http://distrowatch.com/ for more details.
don't use VNC or x-11 forwarding for a headless fileserver, huge waste of resources.
This is a basic linux server, and shouldn't require much to finish. I can't believe anyone would sell a windows box as a NAS!!! What a waste of resources. Not to mention Linux software raid >>>>>>>>>>>>windows software raid.
This is a basic linux server, and shouldn't require much to finish. I can't believe anyone would sell a windows box as a NAS!!! What a waste of resources. Not to mention Linux software raid >>>>>>>>>>>>windows software raid.
But they stripped out media player and IE, so the windows nas box will be like 100x times faster than the typical windows server.
I got my FreeBSD box setup with Samba in less than a couple of hours with Samba installed. I have yet to play around with Appletalk but it cant be all that hard.
Originally posted by: TGS
But they stripped out media player and IE, so the windows nas box will be like 100x times faster than the typical windows server.
lol
Ok got Debian, fileserver role and webmin installed via apt-get. Is there an easy to understand tutorial on setting up samba and netatalk shares and users?
samba should work for appletalk. The smb.conf file should be documented. man samba, man smbpasswd should get you started. I think there is a web based configuration tool, but I don't know what it is. Don't forget to add Samba to the startup runlevel
I'm a total no0b when it comes to Linux. This is the first time and I don't really know any shell commands or scripts. I tried to access webmin via browser on a different machine on the LAN and I get an Access Denied error. Webmin seems to be running SSL since it pushes a certificate to my browser but I cannot access it. I am typing in https://webminip:10000
Gah.
I don't use webmin personally, I prefer the command line.
But I am pretty sure that Webmin is setup automaticly to deny access from everything but localhost. This is done for security reasons, so you'll probably have to edit the configuration file then restart admin to allow access from your local area network.
I think also that webmin will allow you to add hosts or networks to it thru the webmin itself, since it only allows connections from localhost by default you have to get on the machine itself to change the configuration.
If you don't have a monitor and keyboard hooked up to the machine you can ssh into it and use a text-based browser to access webmin.
Two of the favorite text based browsers are links and lynx. I prefer Links.
Linux is one of those things that is a huge pain the rear to get used to, but once you get used to it it's relatively easy.
Check out guides in my sig for getting familar with the enviroment, also google for errors and such. 9 times out of 10 somebody already had the same problem and figured out a solution on a mailing list or something. These records are kept public just incase other people find them usefull.
But I am pretty sure that Webmin is setup automaticly to deny access from everything but localhost. This is done for security reasons, so you'll probably have to edit the configuration file then restart admin to allow access from your local area network.
I think also that webmin will allow you to add hosts or networks to it thru the webmin itself, since it only allows connections from localhost by default you have to get on the machine itself to change the configuration.
If you don't have a monitor and keyboard hooked up to the machine you can ssh into it and use a text-based browser to access webmin.
Two of the favorite text based browsers are links and lynx. I prefer Links.
Linux is one of those things that is a huge pain the rear to get used to, but once you get used to it it's relatively easy.
Check out guides in my sig for getting familar with the enviroment, also google for errors and such. 9 times out of 10 somebody already had the same problem and figured out a solution on a mailing list or something. These records are kept public just incase other people find them usefull.
Crap. Fvck it. I'm just gonna reinstall debian with gui and file server although X doesn't seem to like my Thinkpad T23's display adapter. Only lets me do 800x600. Linux is such a pain in the ass.
It's more like mandatory picking of individual parts of a car to completion and making it run like a ready to drive Toyota.
You're talking to a former Mac user dude. We're used to one button mice and OSes that crash 5-6x an hour but look pretty and easy to use on pretty looking underpowered proprietary hardware that cost a set of balls to run a small handful of applications and think we're the sh*t. Learning Windows itself was painful enough har.
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