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Thanks! You've pointed me at one likely solution for my need.

I'm not the OP, but am looking for a good/simple NAS solution. I'm currently running FreeBSD/Samba on an old PC as a home server, but I am looking for something a bit more turnkey for file sharing (don't want to risk my data on something I want to tweak and experiment with).

I've actually been looking at several external drive enclosures that also can be attached to a network (most of which seem to need drivers on Windows clients...). The MV20x0 series seems to be what I'm really looking for - a real, but cheap, home NAS solution. The fact that the FAQ is excellent and it has a mailing list (well, yahoo group) is a real plus. The review at SmallNetBuilder - HP Media Vault (MV2010 / MV2020): Big in size and performance didn't hurt either.

OTOH, the HP MediaSmart Servers (the EX47x) evidently are some of the first available machines based on Windows Home Server. It looks like they mainly get mediocre/poor reviews and the price is much higher then the MV20x0 line. I assume the price is because they're built more like PCs then a dedicated appliance (and have more expansion bays/etc). They probably meet some people's needs, but not mine.

Thanks! You've pointed me at one likely solution for my need.

I'm not the OP, but am looking for a good/simple NAS solution. I'm currently running FreeBSD/Samba on an old PC as a home server, but I am looking for something a bit more turnkey for file sharing (don't want to risk my data on something I want to tweak and experiment with).

I've actually been looking at several external drive enclosures that also can be attached to a network (most of which seem to need drivers on Windows clients...). The MV20x0 series seems to be what I'm really looking for - a real, but cheap, home NAS solution. The fact that the FAQ is excellent and it has a mailing list (well, yahoo group) is a real plus. The review at SmallNetBuilder - HP Media Vault (MV2010 / MV2020): Big in size and performance didn't hurt either.

OTOH, the HP MediaSmart Servers (the EX47x) evidently are some of the first available machines based on Windows Home Server. It looks like they mainly get mediocre/poor reviews and the price is much higher then the MV20x0 line. I assume the price is because they're built more like PCs then a dedicated appliance (and have more expansion bays/etc). They probably meet some people's needs, but not mine.

• The Thecus 4100+ is rumored to be extremely slow.
• The Infrant/Netgear ReadyNas NV+ is the one I'm looking at. It has an iTunes server, a DLNA server, and a USB connection for TimeMachine.
• The Qnap TS-401T seems to have a USB port, but it is not for computer access to the filesystem - it's for backing up files to external drives!

My 'dream NAS' would support 3.0 Gb/s SATA transfers, support RAID 0-6 + JBOD, use a Linux-mountable filesystem on the drives (ReadyNas uses EXT3), have iTunes and DLNA media streaming support, firewire 800/USB 2.0 connections for the currently-direct-connect-only OS X Time Machine, support and use 1 GB transfer speeds.

The Thecus 5200B is sinfully fast, but doesn't have the iTunes or DLNA servers (it is a SMB box, not a home server, after all).

Opinions?

So I built a debian box (after looking at FreeNAS and OpenFiler and concluding that they were inadequate for the hardware I had already bought ...).

I used: SilverStone GD01 case (it has room for 7 HDs and big, quiet fans), an Asus AM2 board with 6 SATAII connectors and 2 x gigabit ethernet, I installed a low power Athlon X2 BE-2350 and 2GB RAM as well as 6 Seagate SATA disks with 250GB each. I partitioned the disks to contain a small (2G) partition for RAID-1 and swap (2 x RAID-1 for the root/boot fs - Linux can't boot from software RAID 5 yet, 4 x swap partitions) and the rest of the disk is used for a 5+1 disk RAID-5 setup.

Performance is very good, I can saturate at least the gigabit ethernet LAN connection of my desktop PC both at reading and writing (it chokes at 44MB/s - local speeds are much higher, mail me if you want a benchmark run) and I can also run various server stuff on the box that a normal NAS wouldn't support. The box is extremely quiet, so I'm very pleased.

From the Wi-Fi Alliance's Draft 2.0 FAQ (PDF file):

• I heard 802.11n can cause interference problems with other Wi-Fi networks. Is this true?

  In some configurations, 802.11n products can interfere with other Wi-Fi networks when they are trying to achieve the best performance. However, all products that are Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 are required to implement a good neighbor protocol that helps ensure that interference is not a problem. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products will operate in a manner designed to cause the least interference.

• I heard 802.11n can cause interference problems with other Wi-Fi networks. Is this true?
  In some configurations, 802.11n products can interfere with other Wi-Fi networks when they are trying to achieve the best performance. However, all products that are Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 are required to implement a good neighbor protocol that helps ensure that interference is not a problem. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products will operate in a manner designed to cause the least interference.

So if you want to take advantage of 802.11n speeds without being an a-hole neighbor, I think it's possible if you chose access points that implement the protocol correctly. Unfortunately, it appears we can't rely on the "Draft 2.0 certified" sticker. I guess we have to read reviews that specifically test this function.

I know there are two or more camps when it comes to raid and all, but there are a few stand alone NAS boxes that WILL allow you to swap out drives (one at a time) for bigger drives and it expands the raid volume size. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29616/ 75/ is one such one.

A question before I go out and buy one tomorrow.

My current router has regular problems after a few hours of chatting it up with fellow bittorrent users, it shuts down.

The only review I have found that seems to even touch on this subject was absolutely worthless, testing 100 connections from one PC to another for 1 minute. Which is absolutely not the conditions of P2P, for his test he didn't even run a p2p application! let alone run it for a couple days.
http://news.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/25840 /55/1/4/ The article has such worthless gems as "Peer-to-Peer may be the domain of bootleggers, slackers and cheapskates today, but it probably will play an important part in the legal distribution of video in the not too distant future." "The jury is still out as to whether the problem is in the router itself, or due to ISP bandwidth throttling." Then concludes with the statement, all of the routers can handle your tiny pipes, and anyways, your just going to get sued if your router works too well.

Would the additional IP connections cure this problem? This is reason number one why I am buying a new router, I am sick of having to cycle the power on mine every couple of days. is this router/linux combo up to the task of lots of bittorent for days at a time?

Also, on an unrelated note, Does anyone know if its possible to run two security modes, One that is setup for insecure WEP and only allow my Nintendo DS and Wii on the network, and the other running a more secure network authentication.

Or would it be possible to run a Open access point, with throttled speeds, for my neighbors in my apartment building, and a closed access point with authentication that runs at full speed?

Or would the dual security modes be something I should setup with the two routers I will soon have?

How about installing Debian Etch on an NSLU2?

vonage

sucks

I would have NEVER signed up with them, or referred them business, if I knew these cocksuckers lied about the "Free ATA"

Just set up a directional Wi-Fi link to the house 220 yards away, and split the cost of broadband with them. Now, with WPA Wi-Fi can be very secure.

The FCC doesn't seem to care much about power levels and antennas in the ISM band. Remember, it's kind of a throwback "freebie" given to appease the anarchist crypto parasites and cheap low end consumer equipment for those unable to afford the "protected and scarce" high dollar bands that go up for auction. :-)

The only exception might be certain commercial product vendors who try and sell out of spec equipment to the masses. That is actually worth their time, but some guy with a primestar dish? no way. [ Like linksys getting pressured to take their 2.4Ghz amps off the market because they could interoperate with too many other "unapproved" equipment configurations. Supposedly they can sell them again after making them harder to use with anything but linksys/cisco. arg. ]

There are a number of smaller WISP's that I've come across in the northwest that run 1/2W and 1W amps on their directional point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations, but until someone complains that they are interfering, there is no way the FCC is going to proactively come out and bitch.

Wireless users groups across the nation post plans and site configurations using all sorts of unapproved antennas, radios, amplifiers, etc. There is no widespread FCC CRACKDOWN going on. In fact, I challenge anyone to name an incident where a WiFi user (not company) was pressured or forced by the FCC to alter their equipment back into spec. It doesn't happen.

Personally I think this is a good thing. The FCC has done more harm in the 802.11 space than good. Like antenna connectors. Do you know why there is a proliferation of SMA, RP-SMA, N-type, BNC, RP-BNC, MMCX, and any number of other bastardized formats for antennas and equipment? The FCC requires vendors to make their radio's use proprietary connectors to prevent people from easily and usefully extending the range of their equipment with generic antennas. Not that the vendors mind. Nothing like vendor only parts with the associated 400% markup to pad the profit line.

Let the FCC play with the Big Co's and handle licensed spectrum. The ISM bands are where its at.

I agree; it seem like it would have been much less work to run benchmarks than to come up with a theoretical model. But at least someone is giving us real data: Small Net Builder 802.11g NeedToKnow - Part 2.

Walls, schmalls, you may have issues if it's in the same room and you have 802.11b clients. It looks like most of the bandwidth gains go away if you have an active 802.11b client in the area. BuffaloTech review