[Wylug-discuss] Linux NAS advice.

[Jim Jackson]

On Mon, 15 Jul 2013, borph at gmx.de wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> anybody having a NAS with a Linux on it? I'm thinking to replace my
> old setup: an old laptop with Ubuntu and an USB harddrive of 1TB.

Over the last 12 years or so, I've run several home servers - one of the 
functions of which is NAS - SAMBA and NFS file serving. I've also "rooted" 
a commercial NAS, DLink DNS-320, with the the FunPlugHack and installed 
various services - all those below except Bitcoin, EncFS and DLNA server.

The advantage of doing you own HW and installing a standard distro, is that 
you can install what you want. I initially used Debian and later Ubuntu 
Server LTS. I don't like the way ubuntu is going, so will be reverting to 
Debian at some point.

My current HW setup is a D945GSEJT Intel ATOM motherboard and a couple 
of Laptop Harddrives, set to spindown when inactive. Power consumption is 
low-ish - but not as low as you could get with an ARM based board.
Previously I've used VIA mini-itx low power mobo's, and a low power 
industrial x86 mobo I picked up.

> There are plenty of NAS around, but I wouldn't like one which does
> just a Samba share or any fixed features and that's it. I mainly look
> for a multi-purpose home server which can be always-on. The USB drive
> didn't spin down, and the Laptop takes also energy compared to an ARM
> processor. What I would like to have:
> 
> - Energy efficient
> - Ext4 or similar, need hard links.
> - SSH
> - Samba shares
> - rsync backups
> - EncFS encryption
> - DLNA server to watch movies on TV
> - Full bitcoin client
> - WiFi is a plus, don't have to place it next to the router then.
> 
> So to speak a little PC. Best would be if you could just take any
> Ubuntu and put it on the NAS. A Raspberry PI would do it, but is
> 'naked' and still requires an external HD.

A word of warning about RaspberryPi - Ethernet traffic AND external
USB disk traffic SHARE a link from the USN/Ether chip to the ARM chip, and 
that link is HiSpeed USB 2. So if you are file serving, the data goes up 
this link from the disk to the cpu, then back down the link from cpu to 
ether. This link is a serious performance bottle neck. I'd search for 
RPI USB fileserving benchmarks before committing to using the RPI for 
anything other than trivial fileserving.

> 
> If you have a NAS and are happy with it, let me know!
> 
> Thanks,
> Peter
> 
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