NASLite Network Attached Storage

Granted Im new to your software but not new to the NAS world. Im struggling to figure out exactly how it works. Ive looked at other solutions such as freenas and openfiler, but both are either buggy or too large of a footprint.

Now you state it only needs a card to control the hard drives. So lets say I have four 400 gig parallel ATA drives, and my motherboard can hookup to all 4 (as most MBs have 2 IDE ports and two per port). Is that all I need from there and the NASLite will see all 4 drives and I can configure it as a RAID5? If so I assume it uses a software based algorithm to do the RAID5 as the MB with just the two IDE controllers cannot support RAID5.

But I seem to read a few of the posts here stating that NASLite doesnt do Software based RAID. So Im lost on how the above setup will work, or does it not work?

Does the controller card (I use for the drives) have a built in hardware RAID5 setup and from there NASLite will work with it? If so how does NASLite see the drives, does it see it as a single drive (already as a RAID5) or sees it as 4 and I must configure them. If not then how does one configure it, must I do the configuration of a RAID5 at the card level through say the bios of the card?

Sorry for all the questions, I want to purchase this product as I feel its going to be a good fit, but want to make sure how it works before I start investing in the drives and a controller card.

Thanks
Dixit

You are correct in that NASLite does not have any RAID features built in, it is simply a NAS utility. You need to purchase a controler that is a "True" hardware RAID card. If it says it is a RAID 0,1,0+1 card then that is a RAID that is implimented in the Software drivers and not the card it's self and as such will provide no RAID function in NASLite.

If you do gat a card like one of the newer 3Ware or LSI cards they do work great and you will be very happy indeed.

I can not recomend the software highly enough. It is barren of user access control but it is still the best offering out there.

Mike

Thanks for the clarification. Couple more questions as I was slightly confused by the onf your statements. You state "You need to purchase a controler that is a "True" hardware RAID card. If it says it is a RAID 0,1,0+1 card then that is a RAID that is implimented in the Software drivers and not the card it's self and as such will provide no RAID function in NASLite."

So are you saying if I got a 3Ware RAID card that has say built in RAID5, do I configure the four 400gig drives as a RAID5 through the cards bios, and then NASLite will see it as a single drive I assume? And all the RAID functionality is handled by the 3Ware card.

I got slightly confused when you said the RAID is implemented in the software drivers not the card itself and as such will provide no RAID function in NASLite. So are you saying that the standard build (8mb image of NASLite) doesnt support the 3Ware card drivers to do the RAID5 or no?

Sorry just need to be clear here on how I can do a RAID5 with a proper card and NASLite.

Dixit

In the 3Ware card the RAID function will be handled completly in the card. There is no RAID software in the NASLite. NASLite does have drivers for the 3Ware cards not including the new 9000 series cards.

So to be VERY clear. You build the array in the HARDWARE RAID cards BIOS and NASLite loads the drivers for the card and should see the RAID array, in your case RAID5, as one drive of N-1 size.

Hope this is clear enough.

Mike

Crystal clear now. So the NASLite sees it as a single drive I assume, so there really much drive configuration to do there on the NASLite part. Just plug it up and ready to go (for the most part)

Dixit

After the array is built and initialized you still have to format it in NASLite. Beyond that it just runs.

Mike