# Solved: Recommend an OS for a home networked file server?



## AnotherAlan (Nov 2, 2007)

I've read some earlier threads around this but they're quite old, so I thought I'd ask anyway:

I have a spare desktop PC with three hard disc drives installed, which I'd like to use as a file server for general data storage on my home network.

I know this won't be as good as buying a purpose-built server but I'm a skinflint!

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best OS to use? It currently has Win XP Pro, which allows all sorts of group policies etc. but I suspect that a better option would be a thin OS designed for servers.

Would it be possible to set it up so that it just comes on when powered up, so that any connected PC in the network would be able to see it straight away? 

Are there any issues of security (do I need to run a software firewall on it)?

Is there anything useful I could I do to the PC physically to minimise power consumption - e.g. remove graphics card? Can I disable any ports such as USB ports, or unused hardware onboard? 

I won't have them permanently connected, but I probably need to be able to connect keyboard, mouse and display occasionally - maybe just to set it up initially - or would it be possible to control it remotely from another PC?

My networked print server no loger works - I think it doesn't work with my new Vista PC but it could be the printer it isn't happy with - so could I make the file server into a print server as well? What would I need to do this? The current printer is a HP Deskjet 3920 with USB connection.

With thanks for any comments.


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

Ubuntu 10.10 was just released.
The basic samba comes up and shows my network shares automatically.
Workgroup needs to be set and it does take a little configuration.
Just tried to access shares on it from a windows machine and it told
me the same user can't login to the same account twice at the same time.
So I would guess you would have to setup a second user on the machine
to use to login to shares from a windows machine.
Printers are easy to setup and can be shared,so that shouldn't be a problem.
Ubuntu has a built in firewall.
You just need to install an applictaion to configure it.
There are a couple of them in the package manager.
The desktop version should be fine.
http://www.ubuntu.com/


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

I use Windows Home Server at home.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx


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## AnotherAlan (Nov 2, 2007)

Thanks for the suggestions. I did some reading on Ubuntu and decided to try it - it was easy to download and install from a Live CD, and having Gparted included is a nice touch - but I found I couldn't get Samba set up correctly; and I wasn't at home in a console (command line) environment where I don't know the commands or their format! In the end I decided to try FreeNAS, which is based on FreeBSD and provides an easy to use interface to set up a server. The only confusion was over the need to re-partition and re-format my discs. Anyway, it was soon up and running and I'm happy! After initial installation, it can be configured and managed via a web browser on another pc so the keyboard, display and mouse can all be removed. Perfect!


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

With ubuntu you can run synaptic package manager
from the system/administration menu.
Type samba in the search box.
Install the samba program.
Then there will be a utility to configue samba in
administration menu.


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## AnotherAlan (Nov 2, 2007)

Leroys1000, where I (perhaps) went wrong was in installing the server version of Ubuntu, so I had no GUI - I might have been able to manage OK if I'd had menus to play around with! I knew that it should be possible to add a GUI to an existing Ubuntu installation but I couldn't see a nice, easy to follow, step by step guide - and I was also uncertain whether the addition of a GUI would defeat my objective of a stand-alone, no-intervention server which wouldn't require any log in, or other actions on start-up. When I read about FreeNAS it just sounded like the easiest option for me.


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