All the bits I purchased for my Home Server turned up last week. I didn’t manage to put them all together until last night, as things have been hectic recently (apologies for the lack of posts this month as a result).
Now I need to decide what OS/NAS software to run, and I’m having second thoughts about whether Windows Home Server is right for me.
I managed to put my server together in under 45 minutes as the case was really well laid out, and the Foxconn motherboard that I purchased had a very user-friendly layout that meant I only cut my fingers twice trying to connect all the cables!
Everything booted first time which was great, and after a few BIOS tweaks I think I’ve reduced the fan noise down to an acceptable level, even with the stock fans. This is very important to me as my home server will be in my front room and on all the time, so I don’t want something that sounds like a banshee.
I was a bit frustrated at first that my 120 day evaluation copy of Windows Home Server hasn’t arrived yet, but this might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I decided to have a quick look on Google to see if I could find a cheaper alternative to WHS that I could install straight away and evaluate while I continue to wait for the WHS disk to arrive.
I think I might have found one in NASLite-2. Although not quite free at $29.95, NASLite-2 is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) Server Operating System designed to transform a basic computer into a dedicated SMB/CIFS, NFS, AFP, FTP, HTTP and RSYNC file server. It can be booted from a HDD, Flash drive, CD-Rom and other options.
Although not as user-friendly as Windows Home Server (e.g. hot swapping drives, auto-backups, sharing etc), a NASLite-2 server would deliver against my network storage requirements and remote access, and although admin control (via telnet) so I can stick the box in a corner of my flat. I’m sure I’ll be able to cobble together a backup solution using existing software and tools on my PCs.
I’ve already purchased my copy, so I’m going to hopefully going to have time to install the NASLite-2 software tonight. Does anyone have any experience of NASLite-2? If so, got any tips to share? Or, would you recommend a different application?
