File Server Builder's Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on September 4, 2011 3:30 PM EST
While the focus of this guide is hardware, it's worth first briefly discussing home file server operating system options.
Windows Home Server 2011
Microsoft launched its latest version of WHS earlier this year. It can regularly be found for $50 or less when it's on sale. Of all the file server operating systems available, WHS2011 is the easiest to both set up and administer for users familiar with the Windows series of desktop operating systems and less familiar with Unix or Linux. If you've installed and configured Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can install and configure WHS2011 with a minimal (or even no) extra research. The downside to this ease of use for the home file server novice is, of course, cost - WHS2011 is not free.
FreeBSD and FreeNAS
FreeBSD is, of course, free. Because it is a Unix operating system, it requires time and effort to learn how to use. While its installation uses an old text-based system and its interface is command line-based, you can administer it from a Windows PC using a terminal like PuTTY. I generally do not recommend FreeBSD to users unfamiliar with Unix. However, if you are intrigued by the world of Unix and are interested in making your first foray into a non-Windows OS, setting up a file server is a relatively easy learning experience compared to other Unix projects.
FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD but is built specifically to run as a file server. It features an intuitive, easy to use web interface as well as a command line interface. Both FreeBSD and FreeNAS support ZFS, a file system like NTFS and FAT32. ZFS offers many benefits to NTFS such as functionally (for the home user) limitless file and partition size caps, autorepair, and RAID-Z. Though it is aimed more at enterprise and commercial users than consumers, Matt wrote an article that has lots of useful information about ZFS last year.
Ubuntu and Samba
Ubuntu is arguably the easiest Linux distribution for Windows users to learn how to use. Unsurprisingly, then, it has the largest install base of any Linux distro at over 12 million. While there is an Ubuntu Server Edition, one of the easiest ways to turn Ubuntu into a home file server is to install and use Samba. (Samba can be used on not only Ubuntu, but also FreeBSD.) Samba is especially useful if you'll have mixed clients (i.e. Windows, OS X, and Unix/Linux) using your home file server. Though FreeNAS certainly works with Windows clients, Samba sets the standard for seamless integration with Windows and interoperability is one of its foci.
Succinctly, WHS2011 is very easy to use, but costs money. Installing Ubuntu and Samba is not particularly difficult, and even if you've never used any type of Linux before, you can likely have a Samba home file server up and running in a morning or afternoon. FreeNAS is arguably a bit more challenging than Ubuntu with Samba but still within a few hours' grasp of the beginner. FreeBSD is potentially far more capable than WHS, Ubuntu/Samba, and FreeNAS, but many of its features are mostly irrelevant to a home file server and its learning curve is fairly steep. When properly configured, all of the above solutions are sufficiently secure for a typical home user. Most importantly, all of these options just plain work for a home file server. An extensive comparison of each OS's pros and cons in the context of a home file server is beyond the scope of this article, but now that we've covered a few OS options worth your consideration, let's get to the hardware!
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whaler_99 - Sunday, September 04, 2011 - link
I am surprised as you mention WHS and FreeNas, as well as drop the Drobo and such name around, that you did not look at unRAID. This is a solution a lot of us are turning to - a basic system license is free, and a 20 drive data system with parity and cache runs you $150 for the license. And can run on pretty much whatever you have laying around. You can start small and grow big. Definately worth a look. Replyjnmfox - Sunday, September 04, 2011 - link
+1000unRAID is easy to use has great community support and like was mentioned is free and can be put on leftover hardware. For basic media storage it is one of the best options for a file server. unRAID doesn't have the limitations of RAID, you can use any combination of HDs and add more as needed, data is protected via the parity drive so you don't have data duplication giving you more HD space. Reply
3DoubleD - Monday, September 05, 2011 - link
+ another 1000Unraid is awesome. It is a shame that it was left out of this review. It has to be one of the most flexible solutions out there. It is super easy to use, yet offers an unlimited amount of customization. The community support is fantastic as well.
As far as DIY home storage server software goes, I think it's the best around. Reply
Rick83 - Monday, September 05, 2011 - link
I guess it's not open source, and the free version has little in the way of support, as well as little deployment, compared to the standard RAID implementations.I'd stick with something proven and stable, especially if I trust it with storing all my data. Reply
3DoubleD - Tuesday, September 06, 2011 - link
While it is not 100% open source, I would say the meaningful bulk of it is. Unraid is based on a stripped down version of Slackware. Moreover, the abundance of plugin's, are developed by the community and completely free. When compared to WHS, there is really no comparison.In terms of support for the free version, I received ample support on the Unraid forums while testing out the free version. This included support from both expert users AND Limetech employees. Payment is not a requirement for browsing or posting on the forums.
Finally, you question the stability of the system without any justification. Do you justify this based on the size of the user base? In that case, the original WHS was REALLY stable... oh wait what was that about the file corruption problems?
I've been using Unraid for 2 years and I can attest not only to the stability of the software, but also to the hard work of the Limetech employees and enthusiastic user base. Nothing is released without being heavily tested.
Still, you should never rely on one system to protect all of your data, regardless of the software or hardware you are using. Unraid protects you against hard drive failure. You still need to make backups of critical data. I wouldn't trust any system with the only copy of my data. Reply
arswihart - Sunday, September 04, 2011 - link
I think a survey of the best pre-configured NAS boxes from the likes of QNAP, Synology, and others, would be a nice follow-up to this great article. ReplyHrel - Sunday, September 04, 2011 - link
Kind of surprised you didn't mention UPS or surge protection. Yes choose a good power supply. But plug that power supply into a UPS and since UPS's have inadequate surge protection plug that into a high quality surge protector. How good do you think it is for your hard drives to randomly shut down every time the power goes out?I personally use a small 60 dollar APC UPS plugged into a Belkin surge protector rated at about 4000 Joules. I have my computer and file server set up to power themselves down properly when being powered by UPS. That was there are never improper shut downs.
Finally, in my experience FreeNAS works fine on 1GB of RAM. (I've never tried less). Only reason I could think to have more than that is if you're streaming HD video. Reply
JohanAnandtech - Monday, September 05, 2011 - link
"Only reason I could think to have more than that is if you're streaming HD video. "Filesystem caching does wonders for the performance of a fileserver. I would definitely use 4 GB. Reply
tiro_uspsss - Monday, September 05, 2011 - link
Why wasn't ECC RAM mentioned?Please don't give the excuse 'its too expensive' - it isn't - suck it up.
Given that the file server stays on 24/7(?) & is holding data, ECC is a no-brainer!
Oh & for anyone interested I know a way to get 4 cores, 2GB ECC+REG RAM, 2x GbE Intel server mobo for ~USD$60 & it'll take ~100W from the wall socket @ load. Only downside to this rig config is: 32-bit only, E-ATX mobo & only 2 expansion slots (PCIEx8 & PCI-X). PCIEx8 is enough for a RAID card tho. Mobo has 6 SATA ports. Reply
imaheadcase - Monday, September 05, 2011 - link
ECC is not needed is why. Servers don't need error correction since its just for storage and not actually doing work. Reply