what setup do you use for a home fileserver?

[han]

Just interested to know what kind of different setups people have. There are so many different ways of doing this, and it'd be interesting to hear everyone's.

Personally, am thinking of setting up a simple fileserver to centrally store a TB of mp3s, plus other data files and photos. I'm au fait with Windows servers, using them at work, but I want to set up something CHEAP and cheerful, stable, with automatic daily backup, gargantuan disk space, but also easy to setup with minimal maintenance. Is this asking for the earth?!

I'm a huge OSX fan, but money is a real issue here, so obviously that rules out an Apple server! Has anyone tried Ubuntu Server Edition ? I'd love to go the open source route, but hear it's a bit fiddly, esp if you have network with client computers using several different operating systems. Is Window$ gonna be the cheapest/easiest option ?

This isn't just me asking for advice (though any is gratefully received). I am interested in what kind of network setups urbs have at home and how people are storing large quantaties of data centrally.

 

[Pingu]

i have a dell server which manages a NAS server.

the dell box isnt strictly required as most nas devices manage themselves but i also use it for some other stuff.

cheapest way to add a Tb of network storage is to just lob a NAS device onto your network

I also have some sun kit etc

but I am a a geek like that and none of it is really needed.. I just so happen to have it so use it

 

[WWWeed]

I use a old 500mhz p3 dell in the cellar with 600gb of storage! I took the old piddly hdds out and put two 300gbs in there
For the OS I use a copy of Bart-PE which is more or less the windows pre-installation environment on a live cd. I use this with a copy of HFS HTTP server and set up a dynamic ip service such as no-ip.org.

Took me about 20 minutes to set up, costs next to nothing, and works pritty well.

The end result is here http://electraset.no-ip.org/ (EDIT: dont worry about the uptime, I've just rebooted the hfs software for an update it so its gonna be less than a day!)

put some backup software on there and your sorted!

Only problem I have is where to back up 600gb to.......

 

[Radar]

This isn't just me asking for advice (though any is gratefully received). I am interested in what kind of network setups urbs have at home and how people are storing large quantaties of data centrally.

gentoo desktop, 1394B 500GB external drive along with a TB of internal SATA storage. Automatic rsynch updates of my avis whenever the desktop sees that the external drive has been mounted. PC acts as a local portage mirror for my laptop. I don't run NFS, I prefer to use scp and move stuff around if need be, rather than access it remotely.

I could see windows being easier to setup for the average user than a linux box, and you don't have the samba rigmarole to go through if your clients are windows based too.

A dedicated NAS that provides windows sharing would probably be the easiest option, a SATA capable headless linux server on an unused PC the cheapest one.

How much are network aware disk enclosures nowadays ??

 

[Pingu]

here ya go... just a random sample

http://misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=240516&CatId=1204

you can get cheaper

 

[WWWeed]

You can get MUCH cheaper, there's no point spending hundreds when the chances are you have something lying around that could do the job just as well.....

PS Han gimmie a PM and I'll set you up a temporary username/pass so you can have a look if you want

 

[Crispy]

I'd quite like one, but have nowhere in the flat that can take a whole pc, so some sort of enclosure (low power, silent) would be nice. But it's no big deal really - a couple of USB HD's that I can plug into whatever computer needs the data is good enough for me.

 

[Iam]

Linux box (Debian Server) with big disks.

Going to get some form of array at some point.

 

[han]

Interesting variety of setups. I hadn't thought of the NAS option. In fact, I've only recently heard of these storage devices, my IT knowledge is getting a bit outdated tbh.

here ya go... just a random sample

http://misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=240516&CatId=1204

you can get cheaper

Wow!

WWWeed - is BartPE some kind of Linux distro ? Thanks for the offer of a temp username/password - I am v interested in your setup but fear it may be waaaay too geeky for me. I am very much a GUI person.

 

[stdPikachu]

I've got a Linux box (which doubles as a desktop and the backend for my PVR, as well as providing things like DNS etc etc) with a couple of big hard drives in it that share the files out via Samba and NFS to the rest of the stuff in the house. Backup is automated and to another rackmount (not actually in a rack, thank christ) Linux box with even more hard drives in it; this one uses a 3ware RAID card. Optical storage is just too unreliable and slow for backups, so I tend to just fill a hard drive full of stuff and leave it in Wales for use as offsite backups.

Any second hand piece of shit is going to have more than enough grunt to use as a file server, all you need worry about is connectivity (e.g. lots of SATA ports, gigabit ethernet if you're feeling posh) and low lower usage. Summat like a pentium 3 with a couple of SATA cards, half a gig of RAM and some disc caddies would be ideal. If you wanna be adventurous and give Linux a whirl it makes a great file server and has superb software RAID capabilities.

 

[han]

here ya go... just a random sample

http://misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=240516&CatId=1204

you can get cheaper

Pingu - so, theoretically you could store all your data on one of these, in folders, and back it all up to a few cheapo external HDDs ?

I presume it's robust enough to be left on all the time.... ? Loads cheaper and more secure/manageable than a server, to be sure..

 

[han]

I tend to just fill a hard drive full of stuff and leave it in Wales for use as offsite backups.

Top idea. I definitely agree that hard drives are the best for backups.....DLT is a bit of a mare.

If you wanna be adventurous and give Linux a whirl it makes a great file server and has superb software RAID capabilities.

The Linux option is v appealing, esp cos of price and speed etc. but if you're anything less than an uber-geek, it's a challenge to set up, no ?

 

[WWWeed]

Interesting variety of setups. I hadn't thought of the NAS option. In fact, I've only recently heard of these storage devices, my IT knowledge is getting a bit outdated tbh.



Wow!

WWWeed - is BartPE some kind of Linux distro ? Thanks for the offer of a temp username/password - I am v interested in your setup but fear it may be waaaay too geeky for me. I am very much a GUI person.

no bartPE is bassicly windows on a live cd! have a look at http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
To make a HTTP server using barte-pe here's what I did:

First prepared a crappy old pc by making sure it worked, had enough ram and hdd space.

Then I made a bart-pe cd from an xp cd I downloaded

stuck it in the cd drive of the old crappy computer and booted it up

copyed the hfs.exe over from a memory stick to its ram (you can use the RAM as a separate drive or ramdisk)

opened the hfs.exe

selected what I wanted to share and started the server (before you click the start button I suggest you set up some user accounts)

checked it all worked with a local machines web browser

set up a free dynamic ip service & forwarded the apporpreate ports on my router

Went round a mates and listend to some of the music I'm hosting on the server!

you can get hfs from http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

 

[han]

You make it sound so simple! Though it does kind of make my own internal geek-o-meter go 'ouch'!

That is brilliant, that you can listen to it all over the web.

What is quite mindblowing as well, is that there are, it seems, an infinite number of ways to do these things. Your imagination is the limit.

My brother and I were discussing the possibility of bugging our parents and listening to them remotely over the interweb , but then when we realised we might actually have to hear them shagging, we quickly gave up on that idea!

 

[stdPikachu]

Top idea. I definitely agree that hard drives are the best for backups.....DLT is a bit of a mare.

As far as I'm concerned, tapes have been dead tech for years. We use shedloads of LTO's at work and managing them is a PITA itself, and restores are atrociously slow. At my old company we just mirrored airgap deltas to our offices around the country after-hours. Meant we could restore any file from the last year down to hourly granularity, and thanks to the wonder of hardlinks, 14 months of hourly backups from a 500GB dataset took up a grand total of 1.1TB of disc space

The Linux option is v appealing, esp cos of price and speed etc. but if you're anything less than an uber-geek, it's a challenge to set up, no ?

I think if you're familiar with the guts of windows servers you shouldn't have too much of a problem with Linux, although some of the naming conventions might take a while to get used to (I think the difficulty usually comes from unlearning the way windows does things). If you have a machine you can temporarily sacrifice, I'd recommend downloading a Debian ISO and giving that a whirl - the text-based setup system, although butt-ugly, gives you options for setting up LVM and software RAID (as well as lots of other advanced things) as you install. Debian is a great basis for servers IMHO since it's incredibly easy to maintain, although you might be happier with Fedora/CentOS as they're a bit more GUI-driven. OTOH you can grab a distro like Ubuntu (which uses Debian as it's "skeleton" so to speak) and is much more n00b friendly. There are probably even a few distros specifically designed to be deployed as home file servers.

Then we'll see about getting you hooked on it

 

[WWWeed]

han the only os'es I can use with any real confidence are DOS and windows! I'm trying to force myself into Linux but have always been forced back to windows because of windows only hardware or software that I need to use. I know theres things like wine or vmware for linux its a bit much for a Linux noob like me so I havnt really got past playing with live cds.

That's why I decided to use bartePE for a server, because its windows! but it seems to be more reliable than windows installed on a hard disk, windows seems to crash on its own when its left on for a week or two, bartpe does not for some strange reason....

 

[han]

As far as I'm concerned, tapes have been dead tech for years.

Gosh, really?! All the IT depts of charities I've worked at over the years still use them. I admit, I've always found the Backup Exec/DLT combo to be excrutiatingly slow, so I'm glad to hear things have moved on a bit in the *real world* What's an LTO?

OTOH you can grab a distro like Ubuntu (which uses Debian as it's "skeleton" so to speak) and is much more n00b friendly. There are probably even a few distros specifically designed to be deployed as home file servers.

This sounds like a Very. Good. Idea. Perhaps a cheapo Windows/Ubuntu dual boot system could be a good one for linux newbies just incase they f*ck up the linux side of things.

I did hear recently about Micro$oft bringing out some kind of Home Server OS in the near future, anyone know anything about this?

 

[jæd]

I'm a huge OSX fan, but money is a real issue here, so obviously that rules out an Apple server!

There's not much difference between OS X Server & the Desktop version. You can use a spare Mac if you've got one spare...

Has anyone tried Ubuntu Server Edition ? I'd love to go the open source route, but hear it's a bit fiddly, esp if you have network with client computers using several different operating systems.

Linux is designed for servers. Learning how to things the proper way will help your career. Windows (and OS X) also have restrictions on connections...

Is Window$ gonna be the cheapest/easiest option ?

Nope. On both counts... Long-term maintenece will be easier with either OS X or Linux. No viruses to worry about, stable + updating is very easy...

There's also lots of info in ubuntuforums.org on how to do everything...

 

[Crispy]

If I ever do build something, given that we're all macs now, it'll be the crappiest old mac mini I can find off ebay, with a bunch of USB drives plugged in

 

[cybershot]

Windows Home Server is released to OEM now, although you'll only ever be able to 'officially' buy it pre-installed.

Now sure what it does fancy if anything.

Surely a networkable USB HDD is the way to go, no need to worry about OS' and it's not like they are that expensive either. However biggest i've seen is 500GB.

 

[Iam]

Windows Home Server

Tapes Dead.

 

[jæd]

I did hear recently about Micro$oft bringing out some kind of Home Server OS in the near future, anyone know anything about this?

Sounds good in theory. But Ubuntu (and any *nix based o/s) will make it Look a Bit Shit. But that's Microsoft for you...

 

[Sunray]

There are a few slightly more expensive 500Gb NAS drives that even have bittorrent clients.

Most of them are uPnP media servers so will be picked up by any media clients that have uPnP.

 

[ExtraRefined]

Linux is designed for servers. Learning how to things the proper way will help your career. Windows (and OS X) also have restrictions on connections...

I very much doubt a home network will be burdened by the ten connection limit. Besides, you can (should) just run 2k3 instead.

 

[Lazy Llama]

Windows XP Pro box with a RAID 1 pair of 320GB drives, and a removable SATA 500GB drive. Apache is running on the Windows machine and sharing the disk via WebDAV and as Windows shares.

The machine also runs VMware Server with an Ubuntu guest running inside. The Ubuntu server mounts most of the disk space via WebDAV just in case it needs it.

I run a couple of Mac laptops as clients, and use iCal shared calendars published via WebDAV, and back up the laptops to sparse disk images on the Windows box.

A bit of a strange set up, but it does the stuff I want. I can access the Windows machine remotely by sshing to the Ubuntu virtual and tunnelling Remote Desktop through it.

I did beta test Windows Home Server, but it's only really much use if you use Windows clients as it has an auto-backup thing for them.

 

[Xanadu]

Haven't read this through, but it looked interesting:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/zettabits-online-storage,review-29586.html

 

[ExtraRefined]

Haven't read this through, but it looked interesting:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/zettabits-online-storage,review-29586.html

Great idea, stupidly expensive - £25 a month for 30GB of online backup

 

[tarannau]

I considered a full server setup, but it just seemed overkill for me. I just use an old Apple Cube as storage and basic living room web browsing computer, connected up to just about a TB via firewire. OSX's itunes and wireless gumph means I can share music files and photos with all other computers on the network (via itunes for example). A rudimentary drop box system handles file transfers. The printer and router are wireless - it was all set up within a few minutes. Backup's automatic, although it should get easier and faster with OSX Leopard and Time Machine.

That said, I don't have much need for video transfer or torrents. I suspect, lazy arse that I am, that I'd just stick a further wireless box and storage under the tv if I needed to.

 

[han]

Backup's automatic, although it should get easier and faster with OSX Leopard and Time Machine.

Do you backup what's on your TB firewire external HDD?

And - can you get iTunes on each of your clients to point to the TB HDD as their iTunes library?

 

[Crispy]

Do you backup what's on your TB firewire external HDD?

And - can you get iTunes on each of your clients to point to the TB HDD as their iTunes library?

I don't see why not, as long as you have 'auto-organise my library' turned off. You'd have to manually add stuff ripped in one iTunes to another iTunes' as well.

And I have no idea how iTunes would cope if the drive was disconnected while running.

Personally, I find iTunes' built-in sharing does the job well enough.