Learn to build a network-attached storage out of old PCs tonight in LA
Los Angeles's Machine Project continues with its series of seminars tonight with "Unix for N00bz: How To Access Your Data From Anywhere" -- a class on turning old PCs and hard-drives into network-attached storage devices that serve your files from anywhere.
Since we are asking you to bring your own equipment to work with, the class will be structured into two parts:Link (Thanks, Michele!)First, a lecture covering the high level topics involved in setting up NAS at home and online. We’ll discuss the structure of the Internet, routers, IP addresses, DNS, dynamic DNS, and how you can configure many different kinds of computer systems to run the necessary services for access. There are some limitations however, and we’ll discuss those too.
Second, we’ll break into groups to work with the equipment you’ve brought. We’ll be setting up everything we’ve just discussed on the machine network and making a plan for what you’d need to do at home to get it working.
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Someone videotape this please! Ah! Why do I have to be thousands of miles away...
grr, im doing this now. damn ssh. damn linux.
Don't turn old PCs into servers. Resist the urge. You're not saving anything, and you're not helping anything by recycling.
You will save more in energy in six months using cheap new components then you will using any machine that is more than two years old. CPUs from the last few years have incorporated the power saving features that used to be available only in mobile processors. Power supplies have gotten more efficient. Larger, modern drives provide far more capacity per watt. You can build a NAS system that uses under 20 watts, and stores 500GB for around $200. If you use a Pentium 3 or Pentium 4 class system for the same task, you'll be using 100-150 watts. At $0.25/kWh, assuming 24/7 operation, you'll pay for your new components in 300 days. Plus you'll get better performance, and have lower environmental impact.
If you want to learn how to do it with an old PC before building something new, then so be it. but once you've learned, ship that crappy old PC off to be recycled (te destructive kind of recycled), and buy a cheap new whitebox system to use as a NAS.
Or you can watch the episode of Systm that came out last week that cover this if you just happen to not live near LA... http://revision3.com/systm/freenas/
Anyone know any cheap NAS boxes with a built-in iTunes server?
I found this one for $40 but the reviews aren't stellar:
http://www.buy.com/prod/vox-aluminum-3-5-nas-w-usb-2-0-enclosure-black/q/loc/101/207303259.html
I have an old dual G4 PowerMac I could use, but it's loud, hot and uses 150 watts just sitting there doing nothing.
I just built a freenas box this week to play with. Pretty cool but my experience was that CIFS, the transfer mechanism that you really want in an easy home network, seemed rather broken. FTP runs at near wire speed but CIFS is either slow or broken or only intermittently approaching ftp speeds. Look around and this is such an extremely common complaint w/ freenas, samba, etc. and troubleshooting advice involves wild goose chases of paramater "tuning". How is it that such core functionality remains sketchy after all these years?
Shouldn't something this basic be bulletproof out of the box?
I'll be going to the class, to finally turn my Mini-ITX based machine into something useful. I'll post a follow-up here tomorrow.
NasLite FTW!
http://www.serverelements.com/naslite.php
The class was a blast -- Ryan cleared up a lot of confusion I had about some fundamental networking concepts.
The practical, hands-on portion was great. By the end of the night my old PC had a new lease on life serving up FTP, SSH, and Apache.
We also dove into using Dyndns (and similar services) to deal with access from outside your home LAN.
If you're here in L.A., get yourself down to Machine Project for a class!
I have a Cobalt Qube that I would love to turn into a NAS server.