Cheap server.

[Abel225]

Hey guys!

 

Our home needs a server. i was considering freeNAS or linux as we use linux, windows and mac at home. The server should have 2tb or storage that is more then enough. I live in Hungary so consider that in choosing parts. http://www.pcx.hu/ this is the website i use for all my stuff because it is a lot cheaper. The limit is be as cheap as it can. No fancy stuff needed. Only something that will have 2tb of storage. 

 

Thanks guys!

[ERSCreeper]

freeNAS is awesome

[_wky]

Old desktop + raid card + drives + FreeNAS = cheap server

[Abel225]

Old desktop + raid card + drives + FreeNAS = cheap server

We have an old pc but we use it as a media pc. So that is it. but maybe i wil convert it. And it is so old it is using pata and not sata. So i would like to build a new one. So any system will do as long as it has a raid card? Or software raid would work?

[g el]

One of the FreeNAS recommendations is to have 4GB or RAM (Read it somewhere don't remember where exactly though) other than that just pick the cheapest components you find, something like a dual core will do,

If RAID is not important for you, just go with a normal linux install with SMB or NFS divide your main folders across the disks you have and it should be done. NFS needs an extra component on windows but I think it won't cause a problem..

[WoodenMarker]

We have an old pc but we use it as a media pc. So that is it. but maybe i wil convert it. And it is so old it is using pata and not sata. So i would like to build a new one. So any system will do as long as it has a raid card? Or software raid would work?

What kind of raid are you planning to use?

[Abel225]

None if possible. I don't even know what raid actually is. I know a bit but that is just what raid 5 and raid 6 and raid 0. And with a  2Tb hard drive I would not need to use raid hopefully.

[Abel225]

What kind of raid are you planning to use?

would this work for a freeNAS? Uhm only 1Tb because that is the only way to get under 200 dollars.

[g el]

would this work for a freeNAS? Uhm only 1Tb because that is the only way to get under 200 dollars.

Get more RAM for freeNAS http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Hardware_Recommendations or use some other distro I don't think you need freeNAS as you are only sharing 1 hdd, just install ubuntu server or some debian install and setup file sharing. If you're already comfortable with linux try investing some time in an arch install maybe..

 

None if possible. I don't even know what raid actually is. I know a bit but that is just what raid 5 and raid 6 and raid 0. And with a  2Tb hard drive I would not need to use raid hopefully.

Think about RAID if you need backups, I'm not sure how much of a performance boost RAID 0 will give you, I was reading something about double performance, but then you will end up needing more RAM increase with that I suppose I'm not an expert on RAID so probably someone else will have better answers

[_wky]

We have an old pc but we use it as a media pc. So that is it. but maybe i wil convert it. And it is so old it is using pata and not sata. So i would like to build a new one. So any system will do as long as it has a raid card? Or software raid would work?

It depends on the raid config you plan to use. A raid card would be of benefit as it would take care of the computing required for a few raid configs such as raid 5 (just what comes to mind) I'm no expert.

[Abel225]

One of the FreeNAS recommendations is to have 4GB or RAM (Read it somewhere don't remember where exactly though) other than that just pick the cheapest components you find, something like a dual core will do,

If RAID is not important for you, just go with a normal linux install with SMB or NFS divide your main folders across the disks you have and it should be done. NFS needs an extra component on windows but I think it won't cause a problem..

And what is SMB and NFS? How do i use those? I already searched for these things but still not very good with them. Can you explain it to me? And witch linux would work? Would lubuntu work, witch is a really simple version of ubuntu?

[g el]

And what is SMB and NFS? How do i use those? I already searched for these things but still not very good with them. Can you explain it to me? And witch linux would work? Would lubuntu work, witch is a really simple version of ubuntu?

These are file sharing protocols, recommendation is to go with SMB as it's easier to setup and is directly compatible with windows. To do so on a linux distro you would need to install Samba

 

As for which linux to use, go as lightweight as you can, i would recommend ubuntu-server, debian (net install) or arch. You don't need any graphical interface, so don't install X. What you need to install is ssh and samba (or if you decide to go with nfs then you need the tools for that). The reason to install SSH is so that you don't have to hook up a monitor every time you want to update or do some maintenance.

A good idea is to also install a web administration tool (Webmin) which will allow you to change configurations using a web interface from any pc on your network instead of having to ssh into the machine. (You will still need to ssh if you want to update, and please keep it updated as there are usually important security patches)

 

Useful Links:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Samba

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NFS

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/webmin

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Secure_Shell

 

No need to actually use arch, but I find their wiki to be one of the best

[Abel225]

These are file sharing protocols, recommendation is to go with SMB as it's easier to setup and is directly compatible with windows. To do so on a linux distro you would need to install Samba

 

As for which linux to use, go as lightweight as you can, i would recommend ubuntu-server, debian (net install) or arch. You don't need any graphical interface, so don't install X. What you need to install is ssh and samba (or if you decide to go with nfs then you need the tools for that). The reason to install SSH is so that you don't have to hook up a monitor every time you want to update or do some maintenance.

A good idea is to also install a web administration tool (Webmin) which will allow you to change configurations using a web interface from any pc on your network instead of having to ssh into the machine. (You will still need to ssh if you want to update, and please keep it updated as there are usually important security patches)

 

Useful Links:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Samba

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NFS

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/webmin

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Secure_Shell

 

No need to actually use arch, but I find their wiki to be one of the best

Would debian server work? We have the newest one home. I don't really wanna download a new version of linux. It would take a long time.

[g el]

Would debian server work? We have the newest one home. I don't really wanna download a new version of linux. It would take a long time.

 

Debian is a rolling release distro, it means it will be updated to the newest version, If you're worried about downloading the whole system you can use net install and download only what you need. You could ofcourse use whatever you have available but I really recommend against it, it will be outdated, full of bugs and security issues, also not optimal as Kernel recently got a few good optimizations (Not sure how relevant the woudl be for you, but it means that people are improving while you might just be standing in palce), it might even take more connection to update than to actually install a new system with only the things you need. Also updating from a really old version has a chance of ruining your system as things might have changed during releases. Also i'm not sure what you mean by debian server since Debian is just Debian, the releases you see mark stable, test and development versions, they are not really desktop and server versions like the ubuntu counterpart..

[Abel225]

Debian is a rolling release distro, it means it will be updated to the newest version, If you're worried about downloading the whole system you can use net install and download only what you need. You could ofcourse use whatever you have available but I really recommend against it, it will be outdated, full of bugs and security issues, also not optimal as Kernel recently got a few good optimizations (Not sure how relevant the woudl be for you, but it means that people are improving while you might just be standing in palce), it might even take more connection to update than to actually install a new system with only the things you need. Also updating from a really old version has a chance of ruining your system as things might have changed during releases. Also i'm not sure what you mean by debian server since Debian is just Debian, the releases you see mark stable, test and development versions, they are not really desktop and server versions like the ubuntu counterpart..It 

It is the newest release. If i am correct it is 7. something. Well it is a stable release of debian. I am not sure but i taught it was a server because it gave me option to install some packages like web server and file server. But if debian would work that would be great. 

[g el]

It is the newest release. If i am correct it is 7. something. Well it is a stable release of debian. I am not sure but i taught it was a server because it gave me option to install some packages like web server and file server. But if debian would work that would be great. 

How big is it? do you have it on DVD or something? If it has all packages it will be fine, if not it will end up grabbing what it needs from the internet, in which case you will want to do an upgrade fisrt otherwise you end up downloading an outdated system. and wasting your bandwidth..

[Abel225]

How big is it? do you have it on DVD or something? If it has all packages it will be fine, if not it will end up grabbing what it needs from the internet, in which case you will want to do an upgrade fisrt otherwise you end up downloading an outdated system. and wasting your bandwidth..

It is 61MB So it'll download from the internet. I guess. I only have the iso but i will burn it t o disk because our old computer can't boot from usb stick. Even if it's bootable. I think i will fallow the instructions from one this forum. Thanks for the help.