How to NAS with old hardware?

[Drake Jest]

I would like to use my decommissioned PC as a NAS, thinking of buying a 2U server chasis ang transferring the guts of the pc to there. Im looking for a software that does the NAS stuff for me something thats easy to setup that even and idiot like me can do? Im open to PAID (that does not require internet connection) and FREE options

 

Any suggestions?

[jaslion]

Ok first we need to know the hardware.

 

Keep in mind 2u is almost exclusively 2.5 in h drives. Those are expensive and Id really opt for a 3u 3.5 inch one.

 

Also 2u is small and you'll need powerfull and loud fans.

 

Now what is the hardware and storage needs? Is this a pure nas or other functions?

 

 

How many drives will there be?

 

Do you have a backup?

 

What is a budget?

 

 

 

[Drake Jest]

12 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Ok first we need to know the hardware.

 

Keep in mind 2u is almost exclusively 2.5 in h drives. Those are expensive and Id really opt for a 3u 3.5 inch one.

 

Also 2u is small and you'll need powerfull and loud fans.

 

Now what is the hardware and storage needs? Is this a pure nas or other functions?

 

 

How many drives will there be?

 

Do you have a backup?

 

What is a budget?

 

 

 

 

The chasis is negotiable it can be larger if needed to fit the components. As for storage its not really big maybe in the neighborhood of 10 TB after raid. If i can use this to run some programs then sure why note. If possible the OS would still be windows, i might want to run some logging software in the future

 

My main concern is i just want the NAS portion to be as seamless as possible. I put files , i can get files.

 

backup is to the cloud, but not the whole 10 TB maybe only 500GB. Majority of the files are just videos for easy access

 

 

As for the components, a 3rd gen i7 - 3770, and an asus mother board( could not remember the model) has 8 SATA Ports, and 3PCIe slots, a 700W PSU, 16gb of RAM

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Drake Jest said:

 

The chasis is negotiable it can be larger if needed to fit the components. As for storage its not really big maybe in the neighborhood of 10 TB after raid. If i can use this to run some programs then sure why note. If possible the OS would still be windows, i might want to run some logging software in the future

 

My main concern is i just want the NAS portion to be as seamless as possible. I put files , i can get files.

 

backup is to the cloud, but not the whole 10 TB maybe only 500GB. Majority of the files are just videos for easy access

You can set up a windows share easily.

 

However you'll want windows server or ltsc for that as otherwise its gonna be a mess.

 

On windows zfs inst a thing yet so thats kinda crudd. You can however use freenas and run a windows vm in it which would be the most seemless

 

[Drake Jest]

6 minutes ago, jaslion said:

You can set up a windows share easily.

 

However you'll want windows server or ltsc for that as otherwise its gonna be a mess.

 

On windows zfs inst a thing yet so thats kinda crudd. You can however use freenas and run a windows vm in it which would be the most seemless

 

 

If im just straight up going to buy a NAS what would the best brand to go to? I would like to compare, maybe it might end up significantly cheaper. Maybe a 4 bay nas would be good? 4 8tb (as i have calculated its the best value per gb harddrive in my area) in a raid 10 or 5.

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Drake Jest said:

 

If im just straight up going to buy a NAS what would the best brand to go to? I would like to compare, maybe it might end up significantly cheaper. Maybe a 4 bay nas would be good? 4 8tb (as i have calculated its the best value per gb harddrive in my area) in a raid 10 or 5.

Honestly I dislike all of em. The one I dislike the least is qnap but still they are at best mediocre. Userfriendly yes but limiting as always.

[Drake Jest]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Honestly I dislike all of em. The one I dislike the least is qnap but still they are at best mediocre. Userfriendly yes but limiting as always.

Can you tell me what you mean by limiting? what features does it not let you do that you want to do

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Drake Jest said:

Can you tell me what you mean by limiting? what features does it not let you do that you want to do

Its a pure nas basically.

 

Keep in mind these are atoms or low power arm cpus so even if they support lets say running a vm its VERY limited.

 

Your logging you speak off basically wont be possible.

 

Cloud backup is another since these rune their own os you are dependant on plugins they write and these basically always do not include consumer level cloud backups.

[WkdPaul]

58 minutes ago, jaslion said:

However you'll want windows server or ltsc for that as otherwise its gonna be a mess.

Not sure what you mean, I'm using an old HP as a NAS with Windows 10 pro, it's not a problem and only has been early in Win10 life where a Windows 10 update fucked all of my shares (but it's been problem free since).

 

@Drake Jest

 

You can always check a few Linux distro, like https://easynas.org/ or https://www.openmediavault.org/

 

For me personally, since I'm a Windows sysadmin, it's easier to have everything under Windows, I'm hosting a few things on my Windows NAS using Docker and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), basically, activating WSL on Windows 10 makes it possible to run Linux only applications and services, for exemple, I have a PiHole running on my Windows 10 NAS, though keep in mind that Windows have a huge RAM overhead and can be a resource hog, I had only 16GB of RAM on that thing and ended up needing 32GB for it to run smoothly.

[VioDuskar]

I'd suggest installing TrueNAS, setting up SAMBA shares for windows sharing, and FTP for anything you might need to send/receive remotely. 

I'd also suggest a 4RU chassis, if you need short depth, for only ATX/ITX I suggest a silverstone. 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MKSH1B8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it doesn't come with hotswap bays, but you can add them if you really really need them. with two of the hot-swap bays it holds 10 Larger Disks, with space for some laptop drives that aren't hot swappable. 

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZWK1337/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

TrueNAS also allows for native plugins for PLEX, Minecraft servers, Cloud tools, and a bunch more. it also allows for VMs if you need a better, more custom solution. 

always make sure your network can handle the traffic you throw at it too. setting up a NAS with a 10/100 NIC isn't the best idea. 

[VioDuskar]

3 minutes ago, WkdPaul said:

For me personally, since I'm a Windows sysadmin, it's easier to have everything under Windows, I'm hosting a few things on my Windows NAS using Docker and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), basically, activating WSL on Windows 10 makes it possible to run Linux only applications and services, for exemple, I have a PiHole running on my Windows 10 NAS, though keep in mind that Windows have a huge RAM overhead and can be a resource hog, I had only 16GB of RAM on that thing and ended up needing 32GB for it to run smoothly.

do you know of any windows Distros that are made to run smoother as VMs? my Windows VMs just don't seem to be stable. I don't want to throw 32GB of RAM at it, as that's a lot to take away from my hypervisor, which only has 64GB. 

[VioDuskar]

1 hour ago, Drake Jest said:

 

The chasis is negotiable it can be larger if needed to fit the components.

ugh.... i have a full depth chassis that doesn't fit in my rack that's got 12 hot swap bays... basically brand new. 
hit me up in DMs? inb4 mod says go to classified section. 

it's this model.  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N9CXGSO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[WkdPaul]

6 minutes ago, VioDuskar said:

do you know of any windows Distros that are made to run smoother as VMs? my Windows VMs just don't seem to be stable. I don't want to throw 32GB of RAM at it, as that's a lot to take away from my hypervisor, which only has 64GB. 

Sadly no, Windows is a PITA for that. There are ways to "cleanup" your Windows install by deactivating services that aren't used (like the print spooler, the fax service, the map downloader service, etc), but it will still be very resource hungry regardless.

[Drake Jest]

On 12/22/2022 at 10:55 PM, WkdPaul said:

Not sure what you mean, I'm using an old HP as a NAS with Windows 10 pro, it's not a problem and only has been early in Win10 life where a Windows 10 update fucked all of my shares (but it's been problem free since).

 

@Drake Jest

 

You can always check a few Linux distro, like https://easynas.org/ or https://www.openmediavault.org/

 

For me personally, since I'm a Windows sysadmin, it's easier to have everything under Windows, I'm hosting a few things on my Windows NAS using Docker and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), basically, activating WSL on Windows 10 makes it possible to run Linux only applications and services, for exemple, I have a PiHole running on my Windows 10 NAS, though keep in mind that Windows have a huge RAM overhead and can be a resource hog, I had only 16GB of RAM on that thing and ended up needing 32GB for it to run smoothly.

I was reading around and windows deprecated the dynamic disk. Do you use a RAID controller to handle the raid portion?

[Drake Jest]

On 12/22/2022 at 11:05 PM, VioDuskar said:

ugh.... i have a full depth chassis that doesn't fit in my rack that's got 12 hot swap bays... basically brand new. 
hit me up in DMs? inb4 mod says go to classified section. 

it's this model.  

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N9CXGSO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

It might still be a while before i commit to the project , but ill keep this in mind and DM you if its still available

[WkdPaul]

6 hours ago, Drake Jest said:

I was reading around and windows deprecated the dynamic disk. Do you use a RAID controller to handle the raid portion?

The MB has integrated Intel RAID setup, so yes I'm using a RAID controller, I don't use Windows RAID anymore, got burned once and decided to stay far away from it.

[wseaton]

Speaking as a veteran enterprise Windows Admin:

 

Mainstream Linux distros designed to be NAS servers offer a lot of advantages over Windows. No pesky Windows updates for example.

 

Another one is Windows has historically sucked as a pier to pier file server. Microsoft wants you on Active Directory and doesn't want businesses using Windows 10 as a file server. Even getting a public folder working on Windows requires too much forking around, and you dont have much granular control.

 

Linux NAS on the other hand is designed for the purpose. Communication with Windows clients is on neutral terms, and user account control is more intuitive than pier to pier. 

 

Same with NAS boxes like Synology, etc. They are all based on Linux so they tend to just work. In the grand scheme of things if Active Directory isn't available I go with Linux based file services.

 

 

[Drake Jest]

5 hours ago, wseaton said:

Speaking as a veteran enterprise Windows Admin:

 

Mainstream Linux distros designed to be NAS servers offer a lot of advantages over Windows. No pesky Windows updates for example.

 

Another one is Windows has historically sucked as a pier to pier file server. Microsoft wants you on Active Directory and doesn't want businesses using Windows 10 as a file server. Even getting a public folder working on Windows requires too much forking around, and you dont have much granular control.

 

Linux NAS on the other hand is designed for the purpose. Communication with Windows clients is on neutral terms, and user account control is more intuitive than pier to pier. 

 

Same with NAS boxes like Synology, etc. They are all based on Linux so they tend to just work. In the grand scheme of things if Active Directory isn't available I go with Linux based file services.

 

 

What distro do you recommend to use? Any will work?

[Drake Jest]

On 12/25/2022 at 9:12 AM, WkdPaul said:

The MB has integrated Intel RAID setup, so yes I'm using a RAID controller, I don't use Windows RAID anymore, got burned once and decided to stay far away from it.

When doing a motherboard RAID how does it warn you when a drive fails? Does it do it windows or a warning shows in post?

[VioDuskar]

On 12/26/2022 at 12:06 AM, Drake Jest said:

When doing a motherboard RAID how does it warn you when a drive fails? Does it do it windows or a warning shows in post?

if you check your S.M.A.R.T. data regularly you should see it there. 
I would just use a software raid and set up notification emails on your choosen platform. 
(like trueNAS)