Free Network Attached Storage - FreeNAS

I recently installed FreeNAS 0.69RC2 (Kralizec) on an HP Pavillion 7915. The install was the easiest server product I ever installed and worked flawlessly right out of the box. Here is what I did to add extra network attached storage for zero dollars.

Server specifications for the HP Pavillion 7915 are:

• 1.1GHz Celeron processor
• Intel 810 chipset
• 128 Mb SDRAM
• 40 GB HD

I burned the 0.69RC2 (Kralizec) ISO onto a CD and started the Pavillion. The boot and install is very similar to a FreeBSD install (no surprise since FreeNAS is built on FreeBSD) so for those familiar with the FreeBSD installer this is a simple task. Follow the prompts to install the minimal OS and network services. Rebooting yields a server that boots in less than 16Mb of RAM. Detailed installation instructions are here.

Why FreeNAS?

Well, as the name implies it is free. Since the HP was donated to me by a coworker the server was free also (a real bonus). Secondly the ability to repurpose old hardware and create a new use for it is always a plus. Lastly the reasons to install FreeNAS include its ease of use and rock solid reliability and many more listed below.

What ships with FreeNAS?

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.

Will FreeNAS work with Windows based clients?

Absolutely! FreeNAS ships with Samba server so Windows clients have no problem connecting, storing and retrieving data. See the snapshot below.

Other Solutions:

To be fair, there are other NAS solutions, for a price, but why pay when that old family computer is begging for a second life. There are other open source based NAS solutions (NASLite, Openfiler, and a host of others), but for the ease of install, web-based interface and works out of the box simplicity of FreeNAS, you owe it to yourself to download and install the very stable and full functioning NAS from FreeNAS.org (FreeNAS blog).