NAS For Less

Are you looking to build an ultra-reliable network access storage (NAS) device on the cheap? One that offers your customers the ability to serve-up not only images and documents, but also multimedia content, even movie files? While at the same time, help keep the environment a bit greener? If so, read on!

In this TechBuilder Recipe, I’ll show you how to build a NAS device from parts you might otherwise discard in the trash bin. Better yet, you can expand this file server to capacities of one terabyte (1 TB) for little more than the cost of some new high-capacity drives.

Following the simple steps in this Recipe, you can build a dedicated, Unix-based file server that supports multiple operating systems and popular protocols like SMB/CIFS (better known as Microsoft Windows Networking), NFS, FTP and HTTP. Further, your new server will support a complete set of MIME types, making it the perfect solution for serving up music files, digital images, scanned forms and documents, HTML files, PDF documents, movie files, or any other content suitable for read-only intranet distribution. Best of all, you’ll have recycled old, otherwise useless parts into the ideal file server for a home- or small-business.

How Old PCs Become Reliable Severs

In a dedicated file server, performance is often limited by the speed of the network—not by the server's processing power. In fact, today’s faster processors are little help in serving up files on a small- to mid-size network. So this makes file serving for networks of under 50 users an ideal job for older PCs. Even an old 200-MHz Pentium sporting only 64 MB of RAM is capable of servicing a small office.

To be sure, reusing older PCs traditionally can lead to problems in two areas. First, BIOS limitations for handling large disk partitions. Second, some older servers are unable to run stable operating systems necessary for long-running, rock-solid operation of a file server. I will address both issues with inexpensive but powerful Unix-based software called NASLite+ from Server Elements. The package is downloadable as an ISO image for about $25.

NASLite+ is an extremely solid and compact OS that boots from a CD and runs completely in less than 4 MB of RAM. Because it runs in memory, this clever OS does not compete for disk resources, and it performs high-performance, dedicated file serving. Additionally, NASLite+ circumvents BIOS limitations for large disks by addressing IDE drives directly; it also provides features like simple configuration and remote administration via telnet.

NASLite+ also proves that it’s serious for business applications with support for S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) software. This can give advance warning of pending disk failures—before it’s too late to save your data. S.M.A.R.T software is built into most modern ATA drives.

NASLite+ also creates reports on server status, including server and user logs; system uptime, load, CPU and memory usage statistics; and the health of individual drives. Neat HTML reports are updated every five minutes and exported on a special "Info" share for easy access.

Ingredients

If you’ve ever tried to breathe life into an older PC, you know it’s a tough proposition. Old PCs are often too slow and too memory-constrained to run today's popular software. Also, an antiquated architecture can make an older PC difficult to upgrade. As a result, old PCs are typically relegated to minimal tasks like running a browser, though even that can be unrewarding.

But what an old-school machine can do—when equipped with a simple, dedicated operating system—is run quite reliably. That makes an older PC a fine choice to deploy for our dedicated file-server project.

Any box that contains a solid motherboard, healthy power supply of at least 350 watts, and up to four bays can be refitted as a server. But for our dedicated NASLite+ file server, the requirements are just a little more demanding:

• Solid case with a good quality power supply.

• Stable motherboard with 486DX CPU or better.

• PCI bus.

• At least 32 MB of RAM.

• IDE fixed disk drives (one to four).

• Bootable CD-ROM drive.

• Conventional floppy disk drive.

• PCI or on-board network interface adapter.

• NASLite+ dedicated file-server software.

• Arctic Silver or similar compound.