freeNAS

**stressfreesoul** · 06-11-2008, 04:26 AM

How good is freeNAS and are there alternatives? With it being PC based can it act as a print server as well as an FTP server?
Does freeNAS serve to Windows based systems too?
I am considering utilising an AMD Athlon 64 3000+/Biostar/500GB & 30GB(for OS) as a fast server for my home (its sat doing nothing after building a Q6600/MSI P31Neo/320GB/6600GT replacement).
Thanks for any help folks.

**wmorri** · 06-11-2008, 12:21 PM

From looking at the FreeNAS website it looks like all this is, is a simple file sharing server. Something like Apache, but with fewer options and mods. As to whether this will act as an FTP here is the answer:

Quote:

About
Wednesday, 29 November 2006
FreeNAS is a free NAS (Network-Attached Storage) server, supporting: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, AFP, RSYNC, iSCSI protocols, S.M.A.R.T., local user authentication, Software RAID (0,1,5) with a Full WEB configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 32MB once installed on Compact Flash, hard drive or USB key.
The minimal FreeBSD distribution, Web interface, PHP scripts and documentation are based on M0n0wall.

Also, something to thing about is that this isn't even in the RC stages yet so you are going to run into problems, some that might crash the server.

If you are looking to run an FTP server you might want to look into GProftpd, or Proftpd. These are really easy to set up and they both work with FreeBSD, and Linux.

Cheers!

shuuhen · 06-12-2008, 11:04 AM

FreeNAS is basically just a distribution of FreeBSD with programs like Samba set up nicely and a web interface for people who avoid the command line. I'd bet you could use FreeNAS as a print server if you wanted, but you might have to use the command line instead of the web interface to configure that. I haven't used FreeNAS specifically, but I have a FreeBSD server as my home server and it's worked great for me.

Definitely looks like you should be able to use this with Windows clients. CIFS (Samba) is what you want to look at. FTP should work on any platform (that has an FTP client).

I've never used a Biostar motherboard (ASUS in my current workstation), but Athlon 64 processors have worked great for me. Looks like a good home server though.

**stressfreesoul** · 06-13-2008, 10:23 AM

Thanks folks. Appreciated.

06-11-2008, 04:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
stressfreesoul Semi-Absent (life, eh?) Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: County Durham UK Posts: 1,852 OS: XP, Win7 RC x64, Ubuntu x64 multiboot My System Blog Entries: 7	freeNAS How good is freeNAS and are there alternatives? With it being PC based can it act as a print server as well as an FTP server? Does freeNAS serve to Windows based systems too? I am considering utilising an AMD Athlon 64 3000+/Biostar/500GB & 30GB(for OS) as a fast server for my home (its sat doing nothing after building a Q6600/MSI P31Neo/320GB/6600GT replacement). Thanks for any help folks. __________________ TSF Folding@Home, find out how to do your bit in the fight against Cancer "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut" xbox Live tag: storiedmedal Warning!! GTA IV addict! Join my game at your peril! Last edited by stressfreesoul; 06-11-2008 at 04:40 AM.

06-12-2008, 11:04 AM	#3 (permalink)
shuuhen Manager Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Colorado Posts: 980 OS: Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS X 10.5.8, WinXP Pro, FreeBSD 6.0, Gentoo Linux My System	Re: freeNAS FreeNAS is basically just a distribution of FreeBSD with programs like Samba set up nicely and a web interface for people who avoid the command line. I'd bet you could use FreeNAS as a print server if you wanted, but you might have to use the command line instead of the web interface to configure that. I haven't used FreeNAS specifically, but I have a FreeBSD server as my home server and it's worked great for me. Definitely looks like you should be able to use this with Windows clients. CIFS (Samba) is what you want to look at. FTP should work on any platform (that has an FTP client). I've never used a Biostar motherboard (ASUS in my current workstation), but Athlon 64 processors have worked great for me. Looks like a good home server though. __________________ Has it been a few days since I replied to your thread? Don't panic! I'm a busy college student and may forget a post if I'm extra busy (or it might just take me a while to be able to do a decent reply). If you still need help and are awaiting my reply after a few days, PM me about it. When posting what errors you get, please give the full message. It makes helping you much easier.

06-13-2008, 10:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
stressfreesoul Semi-Absent (life, eh?) Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: County Durham UK Posts: 1,852 OS: XP, Win7 RC x64, Ubuntu x64 multiboot My System Blog Entries: 7	Re: freeNAS Thanks folks. Appreciated. __________________ TSF Folding@Home, find out how to do your bit in the fight against Cancer "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut" xbox Live tag: storiedmedal Warning!! GTA IV addict! Join my game at your peril!