One box that is NAS and router.

[Chilledpeperami]

What OS/programs (if any) can make the following possible?

A single Mini-ITX/Micro-ATX computer with appropriate DSL, RAID, Ethernet and Wi-Fi cards that can:
Have a telephone line plugged into a PCI modem and get internet via PPOE.
Be a Firewall and router with the capability of DNS and network traffic caching.
NAS with local FTP, remote FTP and remote Web browser access.
Run Bittorrent Sync.
Print Server via local CUPS and google cloud print.

Is this too much to ask from a single box?
Pfsense can do the router bit but can't be a NAS or print Server.

 

[Nerre]

I'd say Windows XP or newer or any decent linux distro (or bsd if that's what you prefer).

But I don't think using Windows for it is good security practise...

And I don't think you will find a ready solution, you would probably have to install the right programs for what you want.

 

[Chilledpeperami]

But what software can I install on Debian (the Linux I would use) to make it work as a router?

 

[stevech]

What OS/programs (if any) can make the following possible?

A single Mini-ITX/Micro-ATX computer with appropriate DSL, RAID, Ethernet and Wi-Fi cards that can:
Have a telephone line plugged into a PCI modem and get internet via PPOE.
Be a Firewall and router with the capability of DNS and network traffic caching.
NAS with local FTP, remote FTP and remote Web browser access.
Run Bittorrent Sync.
Print Server via local CUPS and google cloud print.

Is this too much to ask from a single box?
Pfsense can do the router bit but can't be a NAS or print Server.

As DIY, with a convenient GUI, yes, too much to ask.
that's why the software provided with Synology, QNAP, makes these very popular.

 

[Nerre]

But what software can I install on Debian (the Linux I would use) to make it work as a router?

The routing part is already part of the kernels networking layer. With iptables you can configure NAT and "firewalling", for dhcp and dns server you could use dnsmasq etc.

Here are a few reading tips (from a quick googling for "debian router"), some of them are a bit outdated though, but they will give a hint on how easy it is.

http://brian.serveblog.net/2011/07/31/how-to-make-a-debian-based-router/

https://wiki.debian.org/green/Router

http://www.mblondel.org/journal/2006/03/28/building-a-mini-debian-based-routerfirewall/

 

[Kris404]

You'd be better off with a 2-GbE NAS from Synology or QNAP than BYOD.

 

[stevech]

You'd be better off with a 2-GbE NAS from Synology or QNAP than BYOD.

Right... routing with port blocks, NAT/QoS etc. deserves a modest cost dedicated box.

IMO: DIY NAS not advised. No software avail. that's even remotely close to what Synology or QNAP have. I use a DS212.

 

[theonlyski]

Right... routing with port blocks, NAT/QoS etc. deserves a modest cost dedicated box.

IMO: DIY NAS not advised. No software avail. that's even remotely close to what Synology or QNAP have. I use a DS212.

My DIY NAS works great.

Host machine is a i7-3770 with 32GB RAM running ESXi 5.5 which has:

• 
  NAS - 3x3TB drives in ZFS RAIDZ (via directpath IBM RAID card), 16GB RAM running Ubuntu 12.04 server and functions as a web server, DNS server, SMB server and PLEX media server.

• UTM - SOPHOS firewall

• Windows XP VM

• Windows 7 VM

• vCenter Mobile Access

• m00nwall router to keep my FiOS TV and caller ID functions

and whatever else I get the itch to try out

Speed test from the array to the NAS:

root@NAS:/home# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/Storage/zerofile.000 bs=1M count=200000
209715200000 bytes (210 GB) copied, 66.6336 s, 3.1 GB/s
root@NAS:/home# dd if=/mnt/Storage/zerofile.000 of=/dev/null bs=1M
209715200000 bytes (210 GB) copied, 25.4592 s, 8.2 GB/s

The ESX server has a quad port gigabit Intel NIC on a port-channel to my Cisco 2960S switch giving it effectively 4Gb bandwith to the network.

There's nothing wrong with DIY NAS and I'd be willing to bet that my set up would take on many prosumer designs. It's also incredibly flexible for any future changes that may come up.

 

[Nerre]

And what is the power consumption for that router+NAS combination?

Less than 25 W?

 

[Dennis Wood]

There is something wrong with your NAS numbers there.

For one thing, 3 drives at 7200 rpm is good for at best, 450MB/s reads in raid zero ... and a four port gigabit bond is at best 480 MB/s. With ZFS, writes, and no ZIL, write rates would be far less. To achieve network reads at 3.1 GB/s would require upwards of 8 current tech SSD in raid zero, or a disk array of somewhere around 25 disks, again in raid zero.

I've hit a max of 1.5GB/s over the network and that's with two 10G connections using SMB3 multichannel between two RAM drives on two i7 workstations.

Looks like you are measuring internal RAM cache only? Given your hardware config, ~ 450 MB/s would be the max possible over the network , or internal, for sequential large file reads once a transfer hit your disk array. I realize you are measuring performance between VMs on the same box, but posting cache numbers says nothing about the real world performance if your setup.

For the record, I think all in one units using VMs are smart, and potentially could save us a great deal of power. The eight core Avoton motherboards just making their way into the market, and 1GB SSD drives are perfect options for a 25-30 watt all in one box. There are several projects at servethehome doing exactly that. Consider how many idle CPU cycles are available on various devices..I believe a commercial all-in-one box by the likes of qnap may be imminent. Consider that the TS-470 PRO with latest firmware is already supporting "official" VM use right now. These. NAS units support 16GB of ram, specifically to allow VM use...so perhaps we have someone already doing an "all in one" using a commercial NAS...