Build Your Own Atom-based NAS

[thiggins]

The setting is on (Fig 7) of Build Your Own Atom-based NAS - Part 2 under "RAID problem notification options"

Oops! So it is!

No, I didn't try failing the array. Maybe next time I have it fired up...

 

[dtbear]

Oops! So it is!

No, I didn't try failing the array. Maybe next time I have it fired up...

Thanks Tim, I'm looking forward to hearing what you find out.

dtbear

 

[Dennisj]

Intel D945GCLF2

Just made a Freenas 0.7 on a Intel D945GCLF2. Onboard giga NIC not found. I've installed a Realtek giga NIC, salvaged from another project. It's op and running.
Dennis

 

[Unregistered]

MSI Wind PC Desktop?

I see that Newegg has the MSI Wind Desktop barebones system available (also known as the "MSI Wind PC" on the MSI site I think):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167032
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=Wind_PC&class=npc

It is approx $164 with shipping, and I'd need some RAM ($34 for 2gb), but in the end I'd have essentially a 2 bay NAS enclosure for just under $200 shipped. This appears to be essentially the same as the DIY atom NAS price without drives ($185 without shipping). And it even includes the sata and power cables for the two bays, so no need to buy those separately.

It includes onboard Gigabit Ethernet, a bootable CF slot on the motherboard, front SD/MMC/MS/XD reader, fanless motherboard (I think, based on newegg pics, not sure), 7.1 channel sound output, and a nicely small case. Only a single case fan for the whole system, so ought to be nice and quiet, and the external power supply is only 65 watts, much less than the 200 watt.

It loses the PCI slot on the DIY system's motherboard though that was occupied by a GbE card since it wasn't on the DIY motherboard.
It also lacks a serial port, a parallel port, and PS/2 ports.

Would there be any other major disadvantage to using this rather than the DIY system? Seems like a good deal, and you'd get a much more powerful machine than a D-Link DNS321 or similar. Pop in Ubuntu and XBMC on the CF card, and it's hard to even think about the D-Link boxes any more! I wish it could more easily handle 720p h.264 video (seems iffy according to reviews of other single core Atom machines), but the normal NAS boxes can't handle _anything_ like that at all.

Thoughts?

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the tip on the MSI Wind desktop.

Yes, it does look like a nicely packaged alternative for a RAID 1 system. Note that one bay is 3.5" and the other 5.25" so factor in some sort of adapter if you don't want the second drive rattling around.

I'll see if MSI will send me one, so I can do the How To.

 

[pfennigcat]

I'm getting the MSI Wind desktop

I've thought some more about the MSI Wind PC barebones system (I'm the anonymous that posted before - finally got around to registering). I can't think of anything wrong with it, and the newegg reviews are extremely positive. So I've got it on order along with a Seagate 1.5TB sata disk, a samsung DVD burner, and a 2GB ram stick for it. I'll try to post back with my experiences. I'll even hook it up to the killawatt etc, but I probably don't have the knowledge, tools, or a good setup for testing absolute NAS performance.

FYI, here's some additional info/confirmation from the newegg reviews of real owners:
The motherboard is completely passively cooled - no fan on the northbridge.
Power comsumption: 18W without a HD, 20W idle with a HD, 30W peak with full data read/write read by a Kill-A-Watt without a DVD-ROM.
It has a mini PCIe slot (for a wireless card, but no antenna included)
Some concerns about heat with only one fan, but not actual problems noted. One user added an extra fan to blow air into the case.

Mine will be running Ubuntu desktop most likely (i'm used to it) and used for backup from my main server and media playback on my TV (XBMC, Youtube, Hulu, thedailyshow.com, etc). I might try WinXP for Netflix watch instantly movies. I'll need to find a good wireless keyboard/pointer combo that won't break the bank... probably the logitech cordless mediaboard for the PS3: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204298690&listingid=24067421&dcaid=17902

 

[thiggins]

I've thought some more about the MSI Wind PC barebones system (I'm the anonymous that posted before - finally got around to registering). I can't think of anything wrong with it, and the newegg reviews are extremely positive. So I've got it on order along with a Seagate 1.5TB sata disk, a samsung DVD burner, and a 2GB ram stick for it. I'll try to post back with my experiences.

Good luck with it. I also read the NewEgg reviews. Looks like a decent little system.

 

[Unregistered]

I bought the Wind when it was available earlier and used the instructions here to install Ubuntu Server and Webmin. Ubuntu and Webmin installed with no problem - tried it both with a 4 gb compact flash card install and also installed using a 2 GB USB key drive. No problem with either install although the CF card is facing the case side so you have to remove the motherboard from the case to insert the card (just a few screws - not hard to do.)

Other thoughts:

- wake on lan works flawlessly with the Wind
- power, using Kill-o-Watt with two 1 WD TB drives setup in linear mode, was around 30-40 watts (didn't write it down).
- two 3.5 inch drives fit fine - I used just one bottom screw on the second drive - felt very secure, not loose at all (at least for sitting in my closet where I had it).

Since then I have built a bigger server with a Raid 5, 4 drive array, (I know Raid is not backup, but I use this to backup my real server). The only limitation of the Wind is that it just has room for two drives, but if two is all you are looking for, it works great as a server.

I did not benchmark it, but it ran much faster than the DNS-323 and the Thecus N5200 (not pro) that I own. I copied around 1.4 TB of files, mostly large movie files) in less than 24 hours using Rsync (local gigabyte lan connection from an XP Pro computer).

Bill

 

[thiggins]

I did not benchmark it, but it ran much faster than the DNS-323 and the Thecus N5200 (not pro) that I own. I copied around 1.4 TB of files, mostly large movie files) in less than 24 hours using Rsync (local gigabyte lan connection from an XP Pro computer).

Thanks for the report, Bill.

 

[Bill321]

Forgot to mention:

I had installed 2 GB of ram in the Wind - probably overkill, but ram is so cheap now...

Also - the Wind is very quiet.

Finally, I installed Squeezecenter (music server) on the Wind (Ubuntu server and Webmin). Installed using "apt-get install squeezecenter" perfectly once I added the correct repository in /etc/apt/sources.lst:

deb http://debian.slimdevices.com stable main

I find using Ubuntu Server on a home-grown system (such as the barebones Wind) much more flexible than using a commercial home NAS. No hacking necessary to install software.

Thanks, Tim, for your instructions in the Atom server article re Ubuntu Server and Webmin - clearest I have found on the web.

Bill
(I am the unregistered poster above who tried the Wind)

 

[thiggins]

I had installed 2 GB of ram in the Wind - probably overkill, but ram is so cheap now...

Thanks for registering, Bill. Hope you come back often.

The more memory you put in a NAS the better because it increases the file size that can benefit from higher cached performance. These days 2GB isn't much at all and we're finally starting to see NAS manfs increase memory size. They are still relatively stingy with it, though...trying to keep their profiet margins up.

Glad you found the How To useful. I didn't start out intending to write it. But as I went through the process of getting Ubuntu Server up and running there were enough gotchas that I thought getting the details down would help others.

 

[fullroast]

Hi Bill321 - I am curious about how you did the installation on the Wind PC. Did you have a CD drive, network install, or something else. Thanks.

 

[Bill321]

Hi Bill321 - I am curious about how you did the installation on the Wind PC. Did you have a CD drive, network install, or something else. Thanks.

I installed using an external DVD/CD drive - comes in quite handy for installing OS's in machines when I won't need an optical drive permanantly installed.

Of course, an external CDROM would work too - the normal Ubuntu Server installation download is an ISO that fits on a CD.

Billl

 

[Steph456]

Great article and tutorial! I was able to setup my Ubuntu server on my D945GCLF2 (without the raid, single drive) and I seem to get similar result (sustained 30Mbps+ transfer rate when the file is smaller than the cache.)

A suggestion for a part 3 article/tutorial, would be how to handle a drive failure.

The D945GCLF2 does look price competitive when compare to my Synology 107+ and almost twice as fast. I was waiting for the new 209+, because of the anticipated performance boost, but it does not look as attractive when compared to the D945GCLF2/Ubuntu combo. Power consumption is higher though.


Steph


NOTES:
Installing Ubuntu for the D945GCLF2 was straight forward, no problems (desktop or server.)

I have little experience with Linux or forums!

 

[tipstir]

This MSI Wind PC not dual core Atom it's single core? I rather build a system but this comes out less than to build one, still have to buy RAM and SATA 300 HDD for it. Stick Vista Utimate MCE connect to the HDTV-VGA. NAS feature looks promising also on 330 version with Dual core just buying the MOBO, I do have extra cases PWR reported by Tim article matches what I have available as this board as a small foot print. Good to see someone else is using this MOBO to good use.

 

[pfennigcat]

My MSI Wind Desktop PC / nettop is working fine so far for a file server. One thing I had to do was get Ubuntu 8.0.4.1 install media - the .1 revision added support for some of the hardware, with the original Ubuntu 8.0.4 disks the install would crash consistently. I also tried to install Win XP Pro, but it blue-screened during the install - I suspect that my very old disk couldn't handle the new hardware in the same way. I only wanted XP so I could view Netflix streaming movies, I'll have to let that slide for now.

I am having some trouble getting audio working from the rear 3.5mm jacks - the front headphone jack worked fine, but I haven't been able to get audio working since properly installing the box in my media cabinet with the wires all on the rear. More debugging needed - it might even be my cabling, but probably the drivers (chip is a Realtek ALC858?).

Bill or anyone else with this box - any hints/tricks for audio support in Ubuntu?


The only other problem I'm having so far is heat - maybe? Ubuntu doesn't want to recognize the various temp sensors in the box (CPU?) with the lm-sensors package - google shows that the lm-sensors package is currently not compatible with the Atom chip or something. So I installed a package 'hddtemp' which is supposed to read the S.M.A.R.T. signals from the hard drive at least. It's reporting my Seagate 1.5TB disk at between 47 and 53 degrees celsius, which seems hot to me. On the other hand, I know the box has good ventilation (my media cabinet has powered fans exhausting air) and nothing feels abnormally warm in there. I don't fully trust this reading yet.


Finally, I got a Logitech Cordless Mediaboard (the RF version, not the Pro bluetooth version) and installed XBMC. I haven't tested extensively due to the audio issues, but this seems like it will satisfy my needs for a media/couch computer nicely. The Mediaboard feels a little flimsy, but the price is right, logitech's not a bad brand, and it works great.

 

[bombay]

What have you guys been using for a case? I'm looking for as small as possible with support for 2x 3.5in drives.

 

[wwarren]

As a newbie to linux, getting this working using webmin was a big help. But can anyone explain why using Ubuntu Server for this setup was necessary, rather than just standard Ubuntu Desktop? Is there something done here, that can't be done with standard Ubuntu?

wwarren

 

[00Roush]

As a newbie to linux, getting this working using webmin was a big help. But can anyone explain why using Ubuntu Server for this setup was necessary, rather than just standard Ubuntu Desktop? Is there something done here, that can't be done with standard Ubuntu?

wwarren

My thought would be because Ubuntu Server already has the low overhead configuration setup in the base install. The desktop version usually is used with a graphical user interface which adds a huge overhead. I don't know for sure but I think that the kernel also has some tweaks for performance in the server version. Not that any of that couldn't be done on the standard Ubuntu install. My understanding is that Ubuntu Server is basically the same as Ubuntu Desktop just the base configuration is streamlined for server duties.

00Roush

 

[thiggins]

As a newbie to linux, getting this working using webmin was a big help. But can anyone explain why using Ubuntu Server for this setup was necessary, rather than just standard Ubuntu Desktop? Is there something done here, that can't be done with standard Ubuntu?

I used Ubuntu Server and Webmin based on a reader suggestion.

I'll be doing another Atom NAS article using the MSI Wind PC (another reader suggestion). I plan on trying Ubuntu Desktop on that, so we'll see what the differences / limitations are.