Hi all I don't post much on here but read a lot of posts and was wondering if you guys can help me out. I'm putting together a little Nas and was going to run FreeNas on it but then found Nas4free which look a little easier for a noob like me. Is there any other software paid or free that I should take a look at? Parts so far: Case: Fractal node: 304 Mobo: MSI H81I CPU: G3220 3ghz Memory: Hyper X 2x4 GB HD: Seagate Nas 3TB x 4 PSU: Corsai CX 430 Quad port ethernet nic TIA
I used to use OMV (openmediavault) which I found perfectly usable (I'm a complete Linux / variants beginner and I managed to figure it out). I prefer WHS2011 as it looks just like Windows 7 but (a) it's not free and (b) it's almost impossible to find any more...
(I only have experience with FreeNAS) If you just want a file server with CIFS/Samba, just about anything will do I think. OMV, as GeorgeK suggested, is apparently very easy to work with. If you want a bunch of additional functionality like torrenting, Plex Media Server, OwnCloud or something you put together yourself, something like FreeBSD's (what N4F and FreeNAS are based on) jails system is absolutely perfect. It runs whatever programs you want in their own "jail", separate from the main OS like a virtual machine (with its own IP address). This gives a layer of additional security and also makes sure you can't mess up the OS itself tinkering with it (unless you try really really hard maybe). I don't know if OMV has something similar. If you use ZFS in FreeNAS, there are a bunch of plugins available that will set up everything for you. IIRC ZFS is not recommended without ECC ram though (you run an admittedly small but possible risk of corrupting your whole pool). Otherwise setting up a jail yourself isn't that hard either if you have an hour and are willing to tinker a bit. For the most used programs there are tutorials out there that explain every step. FreeNAS on the whole is high performance, tons and tons of functionality and bleeding edge technology (this is both a good and a bad thing), but it can be very complex. NAS4Free also has a lot of functionality, but is apparently a lot less daunting to the beginner. (there are lots of comparison articles, so google them) I don't think either are real "plug-and-play" options though. You should be willing to learn a bit about networking, SSH and familiarize with FreeBSD, but in return you get a lot of flexibility, power and efficiency for your money. I was also very much a noob before installing FreeNAS (and I still am), but I managed to set up a file server with Plex, OwnCloud (with SSL), a Minecraft server and a bunch of other stuff and it gives me a lot of satisfaction. The same kind you get from configuring and building your own PC, in a way. (I won't deny that there's also a lot of the same frustration though at times, but I still think it's worth it) If you're looking for more of an "It Just Works"-experience, WHS might be better for you.
Not sure what features you are after but nexenta is another decent distribution. However the free version does have a capacity limitation.
+1 for Openmediavault. The "plugin" library (like the app store) enables loads of additional facilities and it's all free. I've been running it for over a year and just updated to the latest version. My main uses: DLNA media server for my hifi music streamer NFS share for watching films on my Raspberry Pi running OpenElec Print server Owncloud (not quite figured this out yet) Oracle Virtualbox for running virtual machines Backup target for all my computers Torrent server/downloader
You could also install DSM (Synology nas software) onto your custom hardware. http://xpenology.com/forum/index.php
