NASLite Network Attached Storage

Tony and I are trying to gain some more insight on how people use thier NASLite boxes. If your running NASLite, please post on what you use it for, for storing MP3's, backups, pictures, just to look cool, etc?

This feedback will help us target future products.

Thanks

-Ralph

I actually have two uses one at work and one at home.

I am a CPA and I utilize a box at work to store monthly client data files which I only use for a couple of days and am not interested in backing up. This way I don't waste disk space on my main server. I am considering setting up another drive as a backup of my main server. Would love the ability to mirror data from a windows server and also the ability to have user security settings.

At home I use a box to store downloads, copies of my installation CD's, photos and mp3s.

Thanks for developing such an inexpensive way to setup a server.

I'm using my NASLite box mostly to store program setup file downloads and MP3's... we just got DSL so having the setups used to be more critical than it is now (dialup PATOOEY!). I've also moved all of our saved documents over there. My initial thought was to use it for backups, but that hasn't worked out because I'm using old secondhand drives that are only like 2 gig apiece (actually I have two 2gig drives, a 1.5 and one that's only like 500 megs). I'd love to buy a big whopper... 200 gb or something... and then I could MP3 just about ALL of our CDs! Now THAT would be AWESOME! (Oh... and then I could use it to back up our main computer, too. hehe)

It's been REALLY nice to have access to our files from any of the computers in our home without having to mess with peer-to-peer shares too much.

I use my NASLite box (2x200GB hard drives) for music, movies, photos, CD backup ISOs, and other assorted stuff I like to keep around. I'd like to move all my "non-OS" data onto it, but currently my bandwidth is too slow (something like 1.5-2.0 ish MB/sec)

Any word on the newer versions of NASLite that will fix this problem?

Actually, I had been toying with Naslite for some time in my office but didn't actually come up with a use for it until our Windows 2000 Small Business Server started doing all sorts of wierd stuff. I was able to throw together a Naslite server with one 40GB drive and three 6GB drives in short order and offload all our non-critical files from the Windows to Naslite. It was a pleasure seeing that old 200MHz machine come back to life. The Windows server still limps along with a few problems but until I can rebuild it, it justs hosts those files that need to be accessed by authenticated users. If Naslite did that, I might even turn off that Windows server for good.

Right now, I am using the NASLite Box (Gigabit version) for a variety of purposes (I am a professional photographer):
1) to backup (synchronized one way) a 160GB drive with photos
2) to backup system drives and critical files from three computers on an 80 GB drive, using Drive Image (daily and automated)
(both these above drives are on removable disk trays that I rotate with identical ones in a different location to have some form of redundancy)
3) to have files centrally available for the network, basically shared files, that need to be accessible for all computers, indepent whether one PC is on or not.
4) I can also see this as additional storage, once I am running out of diskspace for images or video editing projects.

For safety's sake, I use a UPS, in case of powerfailure, but would prefer to have a journaling file system.

After some minor hickups in the very beginning, NASLite has been serving me extremely well and has been running perfectly stable, with fast performance. It just sits in the basement and runs rock-steady for weeks with no glitches. I check almost weekly to see what else is in the pipepline from Tony

1st of all I just want to say thank you for making this little piece of software available to the general public...for FREE!!

I have been waiting and planning my whole house audio/video system for sometime. I occasionally look at Electronic House magazine to see the latest gadgets are and try to figure out if any of them will work for what I want to do.

Well, what is it that I want to do? I have an enourmous amount of music on HD. Much of it I own and some of it I am still evaluating to see if I should actually buy the album I also have have a number of DVDs that I have digitized in the event that my DVD collection should get stolen or some other disaster should occur. Wouldn't it be nice to have all of these files on a central machine (hidden in the garage or basement) but still have access to no matter what room in the house?

That is exactly what my direction is. I want to be able to stream my audio and video to any room in the house over ethernet or wireless.

My dream set up:

1) Kitchen - touch screen kiosk to access internet, MP3, recipes, etc.
2) Media Room - HTPC / DVR with ability to stream all of my MP3s and DVD to my home entertainment center
3) All bedrooms - ability to stream all of my MP3s and DVD as well as each user to be able to store their files on the server for use in other rooms
4) Garage - ability to access blueprints, shop plans, automotive info from touch screen kiosk...and oh yeah...listen to those damn MP3s!!

Well, thanks to NASLite, I have one of the 1st and most important pieces of the puzzle available to me now...without spending thousands on a Kaleidescape (http://www.kaleidescape.com). I wonder if all of the time I spent so far would equal the price of just buying this equipment!?!?

Here's what I have now:

1) NASLite
2) HTPC - MEEDIO (http://www.meedio.com)
3) Computers in every bedroom
4) An upset wife

Here's what I need:

1) a way to build a computer touch screen kiosk (there are some on the market for about $2k US). I am also thinking about a tablet from Motion computing. Anyone have any recommendations?
2) More gadgets and software to experiment with

I have just connected 4 Roline wireless cameras to a PII 500 MhZ box equipped with 4 pcs. of 80 GB harddisc. Each camera automatically uploads pictures (1 frame pr. second) to its own disc on the NASLite FTP if motion is detected in the hours from 4 pm. till 6:30 am on weekdayes and 24 hours on saturdays and sundays. The cameras are also capable of sending an e-mail through SMTP when motion is detected. I have set the e-mail address so that I get an SMS message on my mobile with the text 'ALERT ON CAMERA X'. I can then connect to the cameras via the Internet and see the recorded pictures before calling security.

In theory 256 cameras can be set up on the same IP scope, and they can all log and upload pictures to its own directory on the FTP server. The NASLite FTP sits behind a proper configured firewall, but given the right link the police or Security company can get access to recorded pictures through the web as action happens. The camera can be set to record up till 18 FPS if needed, but I haven't had the time to test the transfer/upload speed at this setting.

Cost of this setup is $200 pr. camera + 1 hours work including installing and setting up the cameras + making the NASLite available to the cameras. The NASLite FTP is connected to the network which is bridged to an Accesspoint. Remember to encrypt your wireless traffic, even it is only cameras attached to this part of the network. Can still be used by an intruder to gain access to your data!

Just a note to say I really like the product and have a couple of uses for it.
Currently I have 2-400Gb drives that are just a consolidation of data from smaller disks, file servers, external drives etc. I leave it running 24/7 as my houses main files server..


I am also considering using it as a DVD jukebox, but have run into trouble with the 4Gb file size limitation. I have many media files that are over this size and would like to considate them onto one location.

Several people have contacted me regarding the settings for using NASLite as a FTP server to store pictures from wireless cameras.

Everything is set up in the cameras. The NASLite FTP server only acts as a container to store the pictures in.

Following is from the camera manual regarding the FTP settings:

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There are three options to proceed in the Upload screen, including FTP Server, Time Schedule and Manual Operation.
FTP Server:
There are six basic settings for your FTP server.
· Host Address: The IP Address of the target FTP server.
· Port Number: The standard port number for the FTP server is Port 21, and it’s also the default setting. If the FTP server uses a specific port, please confirm the IT manager.
· User Name: Enter the user name in this field.
· Password: Enter the user password in this field to login the FTP server.
· Directory Path: Enter an existing folder name in this field , and the images will be uploaded to the given folder.
· Passive Mode: This function depends on your FTP server. Please check with your IT manager if the FTP server uses passive mode. The default setting is ‘No’.

Time Schedule:
Select “Upload image to FTP server” and enter the relevant
information such as the schedule, image frequency and base file name.
· Schedule: You can 1.) Choose Always to upload the images to FTP server always, or 2.) Set the Schedule to manage the uploading task. In the Schedule option, you can set the Day and Time Period option.
· Image Frequency: There are two ways to set the image frequency: 1.) Set Auto/1/2/3 frames per second, or 2.) Set the time in seconds for every one frame.
· Base File Name: Enter the file name to make sure that the images could be saved as the base file name.
· File: Since you may not upload only one image to the FTP server, you can choose the filing rule , including Overwrite , Date/Time Suffix , and set up the Sequence Number.
Manual Operation: When you click on the image upload “On” button, it will start to upload the image. The setting refers to “Base File Name” and “File” information above.
Save/Cancel:
After making sure all settings in the System are correct, click on “Save” button to store the settings for the Internet Camera. You can alternatively click on “Cancel” button to restore all settings to the latest saved values or retrieve the settings from Internet Camera.
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I have a Wireless Broadband/Access Point router (D-LINK) that also includes a 4 port switch. The NASLite box is connected to the switch with a standard RJ45 Ethernet cable.
WEP incrycption is enabled in the Access Point and in the cameras to secure the wireless transmission. The wireless network runs at 11 Mbit so there is no need for a Gigabit interface card, except for viewing the captured pictures.

I you have knowledge of setting up networks and TCP/IP communication everything is straight forward, but you don't need to have a Master degree in computer science to figure out how to install and setup.

The cameras even runs on standard Ethernet, so if you have cables running near the installation site of the camera you can just hook it onto the network. Beware of the range for wireless transmission. Do some test with your camera before mounting on the wall. Also, place the Access Point as high as possible for better wireless transmission. This also goes for other wireless equipment.

If there are any questions regarding this setup, please contact me through PM in this bulletin board.[/code]

The best software to do the job it is designed to do.

I have a web development business and use my Naslite box as a bakup file server.
3x160GB HDD on a Pentium II 233 with 96MB RAM and it works like a dream. I use Retrospect Backup to backup my data and system disks from my development machine thrice a week. SychBack (another great program) handles daily backups of current projects and SQL Server backups write directly to one of the HDDs on the NAS box.
I also store my downloads on the NAS box and they are accessible from all the PC's on the network.
The NAS is connected to a 4 port DSL Modem/Switch. Which has 2 PC's and one wireless access point connected to it as well. 1 pc and 1 laptop access the network wirelessly.
Drive mapping in Windows XP and Server 2003 was simple and backups of 1GB data over the network is pretty fast.

Great stuff.

I just found out about your server. Looks very promising. One thing i would very much like on a fileserver:

You should be able to put a cd in the cd/dvd-rom, and the server should automatically rip if it is music or movie and create cd-image if it is software.

Music server for home. 16K tracks. 3 Kids, 2 adlt. I took it in to work and plugged it in, and had around 20-25 people streaming for a week. Flawless

Firstly - Thank you Tony and team for an excellent and very inexpensive product !

My Use for Naslite SMB. I have set up a 300MHz AMD PC with 2x40GB hard drives. One drive is used to store all our service manuals (mostly in PDF) and related notes from our technicians (electronic service company) and I also keep my documents and downloaded software utilities on the drive so they are available to the rest of our technicians. Each day I run a program called Syncback to copy the files from this hard drive to the second drive as a backup and also make a copy from our Netware 4.10 server of our "Jobtrak" data files, a DOS based job control system (I have looked at using R-sync, but not being a Linux Guru I couldn't figure out what to do with it). Although our Netware server is backed up each day onto tape, we have had numerous changes of IT Manager over the years and no-one knows where the original Netware and "restore from tape" software is located. As I am now partly responsible for keeping the Computer System up and running I though it easier to use a Naslite based server as a backup. I have already found that I could get our Jobtrak system back and running in about 10 minutes, at another branch, using a mirrored image, so Naslite seems absolutely ideal for this application.

What would I like to see added to Naslite? Well I would like to see a means of doing an (automatic) mirror or backup from one hard drive to another (or to another Naslite Server), otherwise it is a fantastic product.

Problems (very minor) I have experienced.
a) Floppy boot disk (SMB) got scrambled - reason unknown - so that Naslite wouldn't boot. I had a second copy, ready and waiting just in case, so that wasn't a problem.
b) A couple of times, on boot up, the netcard wasn't recognised, but a reboot sorted this out - again reason unknown.

We shutdown during the weekend to save power.

Tony and Ralph, thank you for the product. And thank you for the forum in which to voice our questions and stuff.

I'm retired (of old age lol) from (most recently) an IT career. We moved into a retirement village 2-1/2 years ago, and have broadband ever since. In our previous home, I had set up a rough fast ethernet LAN as an experiment prior to moving.

My wife is an invalid and has difficulty in retaining technical things, and has always had MS Windows since her first laptop which she operates from a prone position in a reasonably well electronically equipped bedroom. Originally in about 1998 with Windows98, then two updates since then, a Thinkpad with 98SE and a Compaq Evo with Win2000.

I have "several" machines I experiment with in my study (den I guess in American) and we can have up to 4 machines on our LAN as fast ethernet, with the ability to place a 10Mb/s dumb hub downstream on one port if I need more online at a given time..

I recently was responsible for my wife's loss of data (photos, all sorts ) on her HDD because of a Microsoft hiccup So I need to do something urgently, and going through all these backups is so time consuming.

While I have an apache 1.3.xx running a number of vhosts on one Win2000 machine, I figured I would like to take advantage of the advertised benefits of the NAS system on older machines, so I have started "playing" with it. I downloaded the CD and overcame the inherent rawrite problems under MS Windows.

I like what I can see, and will probably stay with my decision. I'm currently running the NASLite-SMB on the machine I beta test a particular Linux distro on. The distro is out of beta test phase, having recently been launched on the unsuspecting public

I found I had to change the default IP of 192.168.1.1 substituting a zero in the third block (maybe I configured my router that way? I forget) and a high number in the fourth. This results in the server now being visible on the LAN. This is in addition to the domain/workgroup name change needed.

I've actually searched your website for the answers to several questions, probably pretty obvious ones, except to an "old fogie" like me

First. Both the SMB and the FTP versions appear to work and appear to produce web browser displays of the server file system on MS Windows machines as well as on a SuSE 9.1 Linux machine. They also both appear to work using gftp (Linux) and WS_FTP_Pro (MS). So the question is, what is the purpose of the two different server versions?

ummm, egg on face, edited: shuffling floppies sometimes goes wrong, I find that you can't FTP into the SMB version but you can FTP and HTTP into the FTP version. Sorry. Is that the only difference, I wonder?

Second. The only way I could find to transfer files TO the server was by rebooting it under a Live Linux CD distro (I think I used Knoppix from memory) and copy across on the drive I formatted earlier using the admin utility that is part of the server.

I have to assume that logically there is a way to FTP into the server. But it insists it will only connect in anonymous mode, and then refuses me permission to modify.

So if you can point me, please, to where the instructions are, I would greatly appreciate it, thanks

Great piece of machinery. Thanks for it. If you have no objection, when I've ironed the bugs out, I would like to post information on it in an appropriate spot on the forums of the Linux distro of which I'm part of the test team.