Questions About Turbo Budget DAS Setup Difficulties

[LLCooLM495]

TL;DR:  Unable to get direct attached file transfer working between two PCs via the built in gigabit ports on each machine.  Any suggestions on OS for file transferring to and from a Windows 10 main PC in that config? 

I've also attached a picture of my jank Z420 "bench" to give some idea of the kind of setup I'm working with (I won't have a case until I'm home over the next break)

 

Hey guys, sorry if I'm about to ask some questions that have come up in previous threads, but I was unable to find answers across multiple forums which I searched.  Anyways, what I'm attempting to do right now is turn an old workstation into a direct attached storage device; pretty much a big external hard drive type deal, via RJ45 cable between the built in gigabit ports on each PC.  Going this route because I had some spare hardware and decided to get a board that would hopefully allow me to make a useful second PC.  I would go NAS, but I'm living in a college dorm for right now, and proper network attached storage isn't really possible through the school network.  The setup I have going right now on the proposed server setup is an HP Z420 motherboard, a Xeon E5-1620v2, 64gb registered ECC DDR3, either a Radeon HD5870 or a GTX 645 (will get more into that later), and a solid 750W Corsair PSU.  The issues I'm having are that I've been unable to connect it to my main PC successfully in the way I want.  I've tried multiple OSs on the Z420 PC, including Windows 10 (unregistered), Ubuntu Server, TrueNAS, Ubuntu Desktop, and CentOS (which I couldn't actually install since I had no network access).  Booting Windows 10 allowed me to connect the two PCs and even allowed me internet access from the Z420 for awhile, and allowed me to see both filesystems on the network, I was unable to actually access any of the files between PCs (wouldn't allow me access, and I couldn't find a solution to it online).  That being said, after a reboot of the Z420, I could no longer see the Z420 through my main PC network, and couldn't access the internet on the Z420 anymore.  I figure I must have putzed up a network setting somehow, as I'm not too experienced in such things.  After a few hours of wrestling with Windows 10, I found that because it was unregistered, I couldn't change workgroups, so I gave up.  

 

Thats when I tried Ubuntu Server, and when I started having more issues.  The HD5780 wasn't outputting any sort of display whenever I'd try to get into Ubuntu, except for on the 12th or so attempt, when it inexplicably finally stopped cutting to a black screen after I chose to start installation.  However, unbeknownst to me, Ubuntu Server didnt have a GUI, so I gave up on that and went to TrueNAS.  That quickly ruled itself out, as it had no wifi support, and therefore would be useless to me in my dorm (I should have figured from the name to be fair).  

 

This section is moreso about my issues with video output, but I figured I'd leave it in to keep this all in one thread, as even though it isn't really the main issue, it did play into the struggle.

 

After that, I moved onto Ubuntu Desktop, which, same as the server variant, wasn't outputting via the HD5870.  I swapped it out with an old GTX 645 I had laying around, and THAT card worked with Ubuntu, though only via HDMI.  The DVI connector wouldn't output once I left the MOBO BIOS and got into Ubuntu, had to switch to HDMI.  That being said, the HD5870 was also hooked up to DVI, as the only other outputs on my card were mini DP, and I didnt want to go through the hassle of unplugging the main monitor of my system to try out the only mini DP to DP cable I have on hand, so I stuck with the GTX 645.  Though, Ubuntu would not let me install the proper nVidia drivers, so I was stuck in 600x800 on a 2560x1080 monitor (which was not an issue on Windows 10)

 

BACK TO NETWORK ISSUES!

 

Video irregularities aside, through all these attempted OS changes, I have been unable to figure out a configuration that would allow me to share files between my main PC and the Z420.  The only time I was able to even see both entire filesystems of each machine FROM each machine was when I had Windows 10 on the Z420 initially.  Through Ubuntu Desktop, I was able to get files FROM the Z420 onto my main PC, at least until I rebooted the Z420 and it all stopped working again.  Very frustrated right now, especially with my lack of experience with both networking and Ubuntu.  I will also note that the cable I'm using to connect the two is a CAT6 patch cable, which after some reading, may pose an issue?  It's very unclear to me on what sort of ethernet cable I should be using in this setup.  I have an ETL verified to ANSI/TIA-568-C.2 CAT6 cable as well, though I haven't tried it because its a 50 foot cable, and these PCs are only about 15 feet from eachother.  Additionally, the early success I had with even seeing the two PCs communicate on the network in the Windows 10 to Windows 10 attempt leads me to believe (hope) that the current cable is fine.  

 

Sorry for the great wall of text, I'm just frustrated after 12 or so hours banging my head against a proverbial wall trying to get something I thought would be simple to work.  Also apologize if any of this is fragmented, I was jumping between sections as I wrote this.

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, LLCooLM495 said:

Anyways, what I'm attempting to do right now is turn an old workstation into a direct attached storage device; pretty much a big external hard drive type deal, via RJ45 cable between the built in gigabit ports on each P

this is a nas. Those cables are a network still

 

How did you setup a network config? 

 

You probalby want to set a static ip on both pcs, and put them in the same subnet?

 

THen setup samba to make it a nas.

[LLCooLM495]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

this is a nas. Those cables are a network still

 

How did you setup a network config? 

 

You probalby want to set a static ip on both pcs, and put them in the same subnet?

 

THen setup samba to make it a nas.

I've tried setting the ipv4 settings on both ends, and reset the network on each machine a few times.  I'm very new to networking, not sure what settings to go with; found a lot of different sources all saying different things.  I've tried all the different settings on the Ubuntu side, and I have filesharing and all enabled on the windows side.  I do believe I've at least installed Samba on the Ubuntu machine, had to use the wifi card out of my main rig for that though  Here's how it's showing up on the windows side at the moment; I'm currently unable to access the files of the Ubuntu computer through the windows machine as well.  The ethernet port on the far left is the actual physical connection 

Edited November 10, 2021 by LLCooLM495
Added screenshot

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, LLCooLM495 said:

I've tried setting the ipv4 settings on both ends, and reset the network on each machine a few times.  I'm very new to networking, not sure what settings to go with; found a lot of different sources all saying different things.  I've tried all the different settings on the Ubuntu side, and I have filesharing and all enabled on the windows side.  I do believe I've at least installed Samba on the Ubuntu machine, had to use the wifi card out of my main rig for that though  

What ipv4 settings are you using? Id try something like  10.100.34.1/24 and 10.100.34.2/24 on each of the pcs.

 

What was your samba config? That would allow for network sharing.

[LLCooLM495]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What ipv4 settings are you using? Id try something like  10.100.34.1/24 and 10.100.34.2/24 on each of the pcs.

 

What was your samba config? That would allow for network sharing.

At the moment, both are set to Auto DHCP.  I'll try that IP manually and see what happens.  Not 100% sure how to find my Samba config (first time using Linux), but I'll go look that up real quick.  I installed it via Terminal though, and don't recall changing any options.  Did set a folder to shared after installing to test though, and was able to transfer files from Linux to Windows, but not from Windows to Linux 

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, LLCooLM495 said:

At the moment, both are set to Auto DHCP.  I'll try that IP manually and see what happens.  Not 100% sure how to find my Samba config (first time using Linux), but I'll go look that up real quick.  I installed it via Terminal though, and don't recall changing any options.  Did set a folder to shared after installing to test though, and was able to transfer files from Linux to Windows, but not from Windows to Linux 

Yea dhcp won't work here, you need mnully.

 

Samba should be at /etc/samba/smb.conf.

 

 

[LLCooLM495]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea dhcp won't work here, you need mnully.

 

Samba should be at /etc/samba/smb.conf.

 

 

Gotcha.  Here's the ipv4 settings I have now, as well as the sambashare folder I made.  It isn't allowing me access to the folder, even though I'm the sole user/ admin on the Ubuntu machine.  Also, I'm guessing these IP settings are wrong, as it still isn't showing that either PC is connected, though the Ubuntu settings says that I'm connected to a wired network.

  

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, LLCooLM495 said:

Gotcha.  Here's the ipv4 settings I have now, as well as the sambashare folder I made.  It isn't allowing me access to the folder, even though I'm the sole user/ admin on the Ubuntu machine.  Also, I'm guessing these IP settings are wrong, as it still isn't showing that either PC is connected, though the Ubuntu settings says that I'm connected to a wired network.

Those ip settings look correct.

 

You probably have to mount via ip instead of using the computer finder. Try using the map network drive on windows.

[LLCooLM495]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those ip settings look correct.

 

You probably have to mount via ip instead of using the computer finder. Try using the map network drive on windows.

Right on, thank you so much!!  I had to map the network drive/ sign in using the credentials of my Ubuntu machine, and now we're in!  Appreciate your patience, stoked that its up and running!  Can now successfully transfer files between each PC.  Thanks a ton!