Another NOOB Jumps In

[Dan Stafford]

Hi, All. I just discovered FreeNAS yesterday after running a Google Search on "free network file server setup".

Fascinating. \\//_

I've got 21.5 years in high-end long distance telecommunications, I've been building & tinkering with Windows PC's on an amateur level since the mid 1990's, (DOS / 286 / Monocrome / 250MB HDD / 3.5 & 5.25 Floppies) can build a pretty decent Wordpress site, and have taken a CCNA bootcamp.

I have never configured a server in all that time. I'm learning how because I've switched from telecomm to owning a computer repair and a website development business. I have a couple of clients looking to do file servers on a small budget, so I'm trying to learn how to help them, AND of course, I love new toys.

I just bought a low-end desktop and some additional RAM chips on Tiger Direct & New Egg for the express purpose of teaching myself FreeNAS. It should be here mid-week.

I hope I don't make a pain in the behind out of myself, and I'll do my best not to. However, I am grateful these forums and all of you are here.

Regards,

Dan

 

[gpsguy]

Welcome to the forums! Take a look at the stickies.

We don't recommend desktops for a number of reasons. Most aren't ECC capable. One can find some low end servers for under $200 USD.

Read the documentation and ensure your hardware meets the requirements. If you prefer an offline copy of the manual, you can download one via a link in my signature.


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[MisterIce]

Welcome Dan

 

[Spearfoot]

Welcome!

 

[Dan Stafford]

Thank you, Spearfoot, MisterIce, & GPSguy. That ECC thing may kick my butt. I read the short version of the requirements online, not the manual - although I did download it.

Just saying, though, the whole reason I landed on FreeNAS.org's site was looking for a way to convert desktops sitting in the corner into a file server on a tight budget for small-business clients. I'm hoping that maybe an older stable version of the software will work, especially considering that I may be running into 32-bit machines.

I'm not knocking FreeNAS at all, but maybe there should be a couple of versions; Enterprise and Home / Small-biz. That's a discussion for the developers & guidance folk, but I'm hoping I can find a way to do that.

All I'm looking to do is take a simple desktop and RAID a couple of cheap hard drives so two or three people can share a Quickbooks file or stuff like that.

I might need to keep hunting. I don't know - this is my first foray into Server Land.

Dan

 

[gpsguy]

The Enterprise version of FreeNAS is named TrueNAS and is only available for equipment sold by iXsystems.

You might want to look at NAS4free (nas4free.org). Years ago (version 0.7) it was named FreeNAS. iXSystems bought the name and created the FreeNAS 8.x, now 9.x versions. The current version is designed to run on modern hardware.


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[Spearfoot]

Thank you, Spearfoot, MisterIce, & GPSguy. That ECC thing may kick my butt. I read the short version of the requirements online, not the manual - although I did download it.

Just saying, though, the whole reason I landed on FreeNAS.org's site was looking for a way to convert desktops sitting in the corner into a file server on a tight budget for small-business clients. I'm hoping that maybe an older stable version of the software will work, especially considering that I may be running into 32-bit machines.

I'm not knocking FreeNAS at all, but maybe there should be a couple of versions; Enterprise and Home / Small-biz. That's a discussion for the developers & guidance folk, but I'm hoping I can find a way to do that.

All I'm looking to do is take a simple desktop and RAID a couple of cheap hard drives so two or three people can share a Quickbooks file or stuff like that.

I might need to keep hunting. I don't know - this is my first foray into Server Land.

Dan

Dan, you may be right. FreeNAS is server-oriented, and many (most? all?) of the denizens of this forum are fanatical about having a safe, reliable storage server -- which FreeNAS provides in spades, when configured correctly. Hence the warnings about using ECC RAM, avoiding RAIDZ1, etc.

Also, while older versions of FreeNAS are available in 32-bits, the newer versions are not. So that may be another problem for you.

Considering your use-case, you might be better served by simply installing any common, garden-variety Linux/FreeBSD/Windows OS with mirrored drives and sharing that out to your users.

 

[Jailer]

looking for a way to convert desktops sitting in the corner into a file server on a tight budget for small-business clients.

All I can say to that is good luck in your business venture.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

All I'm looking to do is take a simple desktop and RAID a couple of cheap hard drives so two or three people can share a Quickbooks file or stuff like that.

HomeGroup sharing works just fine for this type of application - except the QuickBooks part. Accessing a QuickBooks file over any type of network share will lead to corruption. The only safe way to access a QuickBooks file over a network is by enabling Multiuser Mode, i.e. purchasing more than one license for QuickBooks. DAMHIK.