Want to set up file server

Ryan111

Ryan111

Ryan111

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Plymouth, United Kingdom
Hello, I recently obtained a few bit and pieces (MB, CPU, RAM) and now have enough spare parts to set up a file server. I am unsure what to get so would like some help.

System will be, P4 3.06ghz, 1.5GB DDR Ram, 2/3 Sata HDDs, 1 IDE optical drive and 1 500w OCZ PSU.

I tried using freenas, but the set up seemed long and not great so got bored of it. Is there any linux options? It literally has to be able to make back ups of 4 PC's documents and have some kind of FTP function if possible :)

Any ideas would be muchly appreciated :)
 
I thought about using it, but its quite expensive. I have the 120 day trial and I think im gonna install that for the minute and see how things go. Any other ideas? any alternatives to freenas?
 
Try using Ubuntu Server + Webmin. Ubuntu is widely used and familiar to most Linux users, and debian packaging makes adding features stupidly easy.
 
OpenFiler > FreeNAS

Although you do realise when you say "are there any Linux options" that FreeNAS and OpenFiler are linux based yes?
 
No I didnt realise that, no. So openfiler easier to use? I am a complete linux noob btw.
 
What would you recomend then? All of the computers connected will be running Windows, One running XP home, two latops running vista 32 and mine running 7 64...
 
Openfiler is certainly simple to set up (or at least I find it ridiculously simple), you could go down the Windows Home Server route, but why spend money when you don't have to?

Openfiler is easy to configure shares and permissions with Windows machines too.
 
The P4 3.06ghz is a pretty rubbish CPU for a server. It'll cost you a packet in electricity. What's the system unit's load, even when idle? 200W? Running 24/7 at 11p/kWh will cost you £192 a year!
 
I've got a similar need, although i already have the latest ubuntu installed on the box i want to use, is there an easy way to set it up without messing about with samba and permissions etc?
 
clv101 said:
The P4 3.06ghz is a pretty rubbish CPU for a server. It'll cost you a packet in electricity. What's the system unit's load, even when idle? 200W? Running 24/7 at 11p/kWh will cost you £192 a year!
Click to expand...

Is it really that bad? :\ What would the most energy efficent skt775 CPU then?
 
P4 3Ghz must be one of the most power hungry chips ever made. I would use it for testing etc, if you work it out your can probably buy a more energy efficient system with the money you'd save by NOT running that 24/7 for 6 months.


In saying that, I have a Dell 2.4 P4 here which has been on solid for 131 days :/ P4 systems with intel chipsets are one of the most stable system i have used, I have some at work as win2k / XP workstations and they only get rebooted once a month for updates....


anyway... My normal answer is Debian net install, install samba, and follow the samba how to. It takes about 20 mins to setup a fileserver in this manner once you know how to do it. There's literally millions of docs on the net to tell you how to do this.

But given you have quite a beefy system, I'd maybe consider something more useful for it. Get a TV card or 2 and set up a mythtv system and fileserver. If you do a lot of encoding / ripping, set up a rip server etc etc... besure to load it up with a webserver and and ftp server, ssh , mpd or slimserver etc, all invaluable service literally an apt-get install away.

If you plug another net card in it, you can set up routing, or plug a wifi card in it for access point. or create a honey trap.

Install squid caching proxy on it, maybe install a vmware server and put a copy of windows in, for 'testing' software before commiting it to your main rig, using snapshots to roll back.
 
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