NASLite Network Attached Storage

Hi,

Can someone please explain what the difference is between SMB/CIFS, FTP or NFS ?
I couldn't find this on the website ...

Thanks,
Cr@zy

Ok, I think I know it now :

SMB/CIFS : Samba for use in conjunction with Windows machines
NFS : Network File System, this is for Linux only
FTP : This is the same as a "normal" FTP server ???

Although I found this out by my self, I still think you should explain the differences on your website.
I only found out because I downloaded and used the NFS-distro and couldn't access the server with my windows machine ...

Cheers, Cr@zy

Hey cr@zy,

How did you get the windows file server to work? I'm trying to set up my machine.

jiggsrh

I wish I had known before I spent 16 bucks on the wrong floppy, now I gotta spend another 16 bucks or say to heck with the whole thing.
I wonder if that might not be the best thing, since I don't know how much more information that is needed might be left out.

Burt

Hi Burt,

What exactly are you trying to do?

If you need guidance on what version you should use, all you need to do is ask. The website provides a comparison of the available versions. It obviously assumes some basic knowledge of network protocols. A more detailed explanation of each is provided in the downloadable manuals.

Regardless, if you need any help, this is the place to get it. That’s why this forum is here.

I was trying to build a file server that could be access by windows, but nowhere did I find out which version I needed. I thought that the NFS meant File server, but now I see that it won't work with windows. Since I don't have a linux box, it is useless to me, and I still don't have what I thought I was getting. I could download the SMB, but still don't have a way to make the floppy. so still out of luck. I am trying to decide whether to spend more money, and take a chance on running into more things that I don't know, or just give it up!

Hi Burt,

As cr@zy’s post above indicates - for a windows workgroup server, the NASLite-SMB version is the most appropriate.

It’s obvious that you are frustrated with your predicament. We will do what’s necessary to accommodate your needs, but please understand that it’s best to be informed before you make a choice.

There are many topics that one can argue should be made clear regarding the NASLite versions and their intended use, ranging from hardware compatibility and performance to network protocols, configuration and client setup. Although we try to be as descriptive as possible, it is not our intent to educate people about hardware and basic networking but rather develop the tools that provide network functionality.

We do however realize the importance of technical support. That’s why we maintain this forum. There are some very capable people here that often do a much better job at explaining problems and conditions than Ralph or I can.

OK, I purchased and downloaded the CD image thing and made my floppy. I booted and set it up, rebooted and copied a couple hundred megs to it ( I have 120 Gig drive in it) and then rebooted with out keyboard. After fixing bios errors, I reboot and now I see text that says Disk-1 -Found partition, and the hard drive light is going crazy. It has been like this for 15 minutes now.
It just now beeped and is back up, does it normally take that long? It did not the first few times I booted it up.

Thanks
Burt

Hi Burt,

The reason it took so long for NASLite to come back online is because you did not perform a proper shutdown. By simply turning the switch off, you do not allow the operating system to properly unmount the drives, so next time NASLite boots, it has to scan and verify file system integrity before making it available on the network.

Proper shutdown can be performed remotely via TELNET using the configuration menu.

I’d strongly encourage you to take a look at the manual. It’s only 8 pages and does cover a number of topics that you may find useful. The manual is available on the CD-ROM as a PDF and can be viewed using Acrobat Reader directly in windows.

Thanks for purchasing the CD-ROM

You made a couple of incorrect assumptions, one, I did read the whole manual, and two, I did proper shutdown. Nowhere in my post did I say that I just hit the switch.
I actually read the manual before I booted up the machine!

I may have never working with Linux before, but I have been working on computers since the 70's.

The system is running fine, I just wanted to know whether to expect that much of a delay on boot every time, since I am going to add another drive to it on monday.

Burt

Hi Burt,

To clarify: how did you do the shutdown w/o the keyboard? Telnet? Did it seem to take a minute or 2 to shut down?

If for any reason the shutdown didn't go well, NASLite will do a file system check. As reported in earlier posts, the larger the drive, the longer the file system check. More memory helps to speed this up.

If you add more drives, it will take a little longer to come back up on normal power-up (it checks each drive), but if there is a shutdown problem, it can take quite a while to scan all the drives if they're large ones! Of course, all systems have this problem to some extent, but those w/ journaled file systems do it a bit quicker.

Hope this helps!

Tim