Server OS advice

[BrendanReed]

I just need some quick advice, I want to use a simple sff computer I have right now to act as both a NAS and a Web Server. Will its 1.2Ghz apu be good enough and what OS should be used for this? I don't have money to shell out for UNRAID after the trial is over. 

[GDRRiley]

freenas has virtual machine now, it isn't the only option so look around some. 

[Jarsky]

How many drives are you using if its SFF?

Is it just simple filesharing?

[BrendanReed]

Just now, GDRRiley said:

freenas has virtual machine now, it isn't the only option so look around some. 

I'll look into it thanks.

Just now, Jarsky said:

How many drives are you using if its SFF?

Is it just simple filesharing?

Sadly it only has 2 sata ports. So 2 1TB drives or 1 120GB SSD and 1TB HDD. As of now yes just simple file sharing. The PC runs like garbage with windows on it other wise I would just do a network share that way.

[GDRRiley]

Just now, BrendanReed said:

I'll look into it thanks.

Sadly it only has 2 sata ports. So 2 1TB drives or 1 120GB SSD and 1TB HDD. As of now yes just simple file sharing. The PC runs like garbage with windows on it other wise I would just do a network share that way.

sata cards are 25$

[Jarsky]

I take it when you say SFF its something similar to a Brix? 

Thought about just installing Ubuntu/Debian and sharing the drive as an SMB share?

[BrendanReed]

2 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

sata cards are 25$

I don't need more than 1 or 2TB right now. I just need to know what a good OS would be for now until I can afford to build a proper NAS. 

1 minute ago, Jarsky said:

I take it when you say SFF its something similar to a Brix? 

Thought about just installing Ubuntu/Debian and sharing the drive as an SMB share?

No, just a spare sff computer that I stumbled upon a couple months ago. I don't know the model off hand but its a gateway tower. I'm not sure how well it would run linux to be completely honest here. Something I could look into though. 

[Jarsky]

1 minute ago, BrendanReed said:

I don't need more than 1 or 2TB right now. I just need to know what a good OS would be for now until I can afford to build a proper NAS. 

No, just a spare sff computer that I stumbled upon a couple months ago. I don't know the model off hand but its a gateway tower. I'm not sure how well it would run linux to be completely honest here. Something I could look into though. 

 

unRAID is Linux....

If you just want something with a Web GUI, what about Rockstor or OpenMediaVault?

[BrendanReed]

1 minute ago, Jarsky said:

 

unRAID is Linux....

If you just want something with a Web GUI, what about Rockstor or OpenMediaVault?

Sorry I meant as fully installed. unRaid is running fine, just can't afford it right now after the trial is up. Just looked over those two. Rockstor seems pretty neat, how would it be hosting a simple webpage do you know? 

[Jarsky]

I'm not sure what you mean by "fully installed"...you could easily run a headless Linux distro on a potato - but I guess you need an OS with some sort of UI? 

Not sure about what the resource usage would be like but Rockstor has docker (called Rock-on's) just like FreeNAS

[BrendanReed]

Just now, Jarsky said:

I'm not sure what you mean by "fully installed"...you could easily run a headless Linux distro on a potato - but I guess you need an OS with some sort of UI? 

Not sure about what the resource usage would be like but Rockstor has docker (called Rock-on's) just like FreeNAS

I would like something that can be run off of USB like unRAID instead of installing something onto one of the drives. (I gotta be more clear about things sorry). 

[gabe927]

If you are a student, you can get free Windows Server Licenses from Microsoft Imagine.  https://imagine.microsoft.com  Just verify your student status and get free stuff.

[dmaes]

9 hours ago, gabe927 said:

If you are a student, you can get free Windows Server Licenses from Microsoft Imagine.  https://imagine.microsoft.com  Just verify your student status and get free stuff.

 

16 hours ago, BrendanReed said:

The PC runs like garbage with windows on it other wise I would just do a network share that way.

windows is not a option...

 

16 hours ago, BrendanReed said:

I would like something that can be run off of USB like unRAID instead of installing something onto one of the drives. (I gotta be more clear about things sorry). 

I would just install ubuntu (yes, you can install that on a USB, as it will just be another /dev/sdX), setup samba (see this guide) and install a LAMP-stack for websites (see this guide). Want your webserver in a vm?  install qemu/kvm (don't put a file-server in a vm, too much overhead).

[SG14_96]

Well, on the linux/btrfs side of things, Rockstar is a good way to go since its free and has similar capabilities to that of unRaid.

From what I understand, your system is probably not powerful enough to run something with ZFS, like FreeNAS/BSD.

Another alternative is to simply use a desktop linux bistro like OpenSUSE, which comes with btrfs and install teamviwer to manage it remotely.

[BrendanReed]

1 minute ago, SG14_96 said:

Well, on the linux/btrfs side of things, Rockstar is a good way to go since its free and has similar capabilities to that of unRaid.

From what I understand, your system is probably not powerful enough to run something with ZFS, like FreeNAS/BSD.

Another alternative is to simply use a desktop linux bistro like OpenSUSE, which comes with btrfs and install teamviwer to manage it remotely.

Just got Rockstor installed last night, going to try to mess with it today or tomorrow. I like how it's setup honestly, I didn't even know that it existed lol. 

[SG14_96]

Just now, BrendanReed said:

Just got Rockstor installed last night, going to try to mess with it today or tomorrow. I like how it's setup honestly, I didn't even know that it existed lol. 

Yeah Rockstor is good, I am more a BSD/Unix guy so I went with FreeNAS.

[BrendanReed]

3 minutes ago, SG14_96 said:

Yeah Rockstor is good, I am more a BSD/Unix guy so I went with FreeNAS.

Once I get better hardware and needs really I'll explore more options but so far I think Rockstor is gonna do what I need.