Got An Old PC Lying Around? Build A NAS Server With NASLite-2

Everton | Nov 21, 2007 | View Comments


NASLite

Over the last week I’ve been writing a series of posts tracking the progress of the Home Server I’ve been building. My original plan was to install Windows Home Server on my £130 home server, but because the WHS trial disc was taking a while to arrive, I thought I’d try installing a cheaper alternative.

I discovered NASLite-2 after about 15 minutes research on Google, and I’m amazed by how much it does for a mere $29.95. Within 15 minutes I had installed NASLite-2 and I now have an amazing NAS server that delivers everything I need for a fration of the cost of WHS.

What is NASLite-2? Well, it’s 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. This means that files saved on your server can be accessed via just about every method known to man. The software is ultralight, with the ISO only 6.6MB, and can be installed on anything as slow as a 200Mhz Pentium with 64MB of RAM, so that old PC you have lying around could suddenly become useful again.

Installing the HDD version onto my PC was a doddle and only took about 5 mins. Installation requires a monitor and a keyboard, but once finished these can be removed and the server can be managed via telnet. Options available include formating discs, setting free space alerts, monitoring traffic levels etc, with each installed drive having unique settings.

Below are some sample screens from the admin screens, which I have to say are very easy to navigate:

pic2pic3pic4pic5

Once you’ve setup your network settings, you literally only need to connect the server to your network and away you go. The network drives appear automatically on each PC connected to your network, with each available drive listed seperately as well as a ‘Shares’ folder that shows all available storage via a single share.

Performance is extremely good. Because NASLite-2 deletes all files on each new disc that is added, I had to spend some time copying all my files onto my server. At one point I had 3 PCs transferring files to the server, and to try and test out the load I was streaming music and DVDs to 4 PCs and 2 consoles at the same time as the incoming transfers. Some of the files stuttered initially but once they got going everything was fine.

I think NASLite-2 is going to be one of the best software purchases I’ve ever made, particularly when running in tandem with my new £130 Home Server. In fact, my new server will actually cost me less because I’ve put my 1TB Lacie drive up for sale on eBay, and I should get around £100 for it!

All I need to do is find a good RAS solution that allows me to access the NAS server over the internet. There are many out there that will let me access one of my PCs, but I need one that will allow me to access the server directly.


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About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day.

  • This is a really cool article.
    Here is an article on Using an Old Computer as a Server with Step-by-Step video instructions.

    Read VitaminCM's latest blog post....Episode 2 – Fix the Annoying Cell Phone Buzz in your Computer Speakers>>>
  • bitor
    Hello Grahm:

    My first suggestion is to make sure your firewall is not blocking your naslite2. Also, I would try and do a telnet to the naslite2 via the command prompt. Like this Run->cmd(dos window)->telnet open (your nas IP address) then password. This is to double check that your or any firewall is blocking it. Also you can ping the naslite2 ip address from the dos command prompt. Example: Run->cmd->ping (your nas ip address). You can also try and map your naslite2.

    I hope this might help you
    Best Regards,
    bitor
  • Graham
    Hello Everton I have been running a naslite server now for 2 months now and finding it working really well. I'm have a problem and wondered if you could help? .I am unable to access naslite2 using my vista laptop. Ive tried many ways with no success , I have an XP machine and MAC both work great but not the Vista laptop. Have you or anyone else got vista to work with Naslite.
    There is probably something simple to do to make it work but i am at a loss

    All the best
    Graham
  • bitor
    On a side note:

    If you do decide to go with an older Snap Server. The people at http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/forumdisplay.p... will try and help you out. A big thanks goes to blue68f100 & Phoenix32 among others for there help to others. These guys are very well adverse in the units they know. They are a great resource and do it ALL FOR NOTHING! So if you need help look them up or post something at the above website. Nine times out of ten it will be one or the other that responds to you. Don't forget to be very thankful to them & others for there help. Because Adaptec will always help you if you are willing to shell out lots of money for there help.

    Best Regards,
    bitor
  • bitor
    Greetings to all:
    Sounds like a great setup. I played around with both NASLite(older version) and FreeNAS. NasLite is very very stable and FreeNAS still needs some work, but has great potential. I would like to see some basic type of security settings on the NASLite software. Maybe the newer NASLite has this now.
    What I did was make a wired "Media Center" for the house. I used a dedicated PC with Win2000Pro(customized) that hooks up(DIN) to the TV via a 128Vram card and a Serial port IR via CAT5 hookup to control the menus from my couch.
    Software is the Meedio program which has the ability to do PVR,Music,Movie Streaming and has GREAT PLUGINS.
    Unfortunately, Meedio was sold to Yahoo and now there version has adds placed in it I've heard. I saw that one coming. BUT if you can find Meedio then you can use it for music and video streaming without any problems. PVR is not supported anymore because Meedio no longer supplies the guide part, but you can still use it to record shows on the fly.
    Next, because I wanted it for the whole house I used a dedicated Snap1000 at first then upgraded to a Snap4000(for bigger HDs) for the main storage of the media files. Snap is an old servers , but has some great things to it. The main reason why I picked it was because it's resistance to ANY virus attack. It has a highly modified BSD/Unix OS. The drawl back here is that the SnapOS has a limit of 1TB, BUT with my Snap4000 I can run it a JBOD(Just a Bunch Of Drives) configuration and have a max of 4TB or less. Which is way more then I need.
    The SnapOS(Operation System) has great security which is the second reason why I went with it. The third is the unit is very stable and doesn't cost that much on ebay. The drawl back is you need the newer SnapOS to go above the 120GB barrier. And is almost impossible to get. (Thanks Adaptec! Not). I got my first Snap1000 off a friend's work. If I would have not gotten that first one then I would have gone with NASLite even if the security level is not as good as I would like. But I am quite happy with my older Snap Server and would not change it. Snap Servers are not for everybody, but what I would recommend is the Meedio software if you can find it and plain on building a media center.
    The plug ins are still available at the original site http://www.meedio.com/maid/ and at other sites. Just do a google and you will find info on the software and etc..
    I guess there is more then one way to build a media center. Pros and cons to each I guess. This media center I built will last me for many many years I hope.
    Best Regards,
    bitor
  • I think that if we are using a Linux as a server, we could have greater results.
    Linux is quite stable and robust as server.
  • Nice guide to setup. I went for the easier option and bought a new NSLU2 and a USB external hard drive for my NAS drive, which is quite compact and also out-of-the-box, but it did cost slightly more. I quite like your efforts to reuse components - very environmentally-conscious!
  • @Zath

    All my files are on the NASlite server now and it's working fine - you should give it a whirl. You will have a fileserver up an running in under an hour.
  • I'm rather tempted to give this a go with one of my old un-used machines - until now I've been waiting for a decently priced 1TB NAS drive, but this could be another option!
  • @Shameless

    I haven't needed to use the tech support as it's so easy to setup. I will be checking out the forums which are quite active this weekend to get tips on setting up remote access.
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