Thinking of getting a FreeNas box..
- Thread starter HE15MAN
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gsahli
macrumors 6502a
As far as I can tell, FreeNAS isn't available built for PowerPC.
On the other hand, OS X on a G4/G5 should be able to do everything a FreeNAS box can do - without doing much of anything to setup.
A FreeNAS box is just a cheap PC, with possible upgrades to number of hard drive bays and size of power supply (for more drives). There aren't any special, hard to find parts.
If you tell us what your objective is, the users here will give you more ideas.
On the other hand, OS X on a G4/G5 should be able to do everything a FreeNAS box can do - without doing much of anything to setup.
A FreeNAS box is just a cheap PC, with possible upgrades to number of hard drive bays and size of power supply (for more drives). There aren't any special, hard to find parts.
If you tell us what your objective is, the users here will give you more ideas.
HE15MAN
macrumors 6502a
Thanks for the response.
I mainly just want to have a centralized data storage as well as backup for my house computers.
I would like
1 massive iTunes library that can also sync with my Mac Mini and Plex
1 massive video storage area that can also sync with my Mac Mini and Plex
And then the ability to save all my images and home movies to more than one place for redundancy. My house isn't prewired with Ethernet, so the distance is a bit of an issue, but can be resolved I am sure.
I mainly just want to have a centralized data storage as well as backup for my house computers.
I would like
1 massive iTunes library that can also sync with my Mac Mini and Plex
1 massive video storage area that can also sync with my Mac Mini and Plex
And then the ability to save all my images and home movies to more than one place for redundancy. My house isn't prewired with Ethernet, so the distance is a bit of an issue, but can be resolved I am sure.
Transporteur
macrumors 68030
FreeNas is based on FreeBSD, hence requires a x86 machine.
Rather than using a G4 or G5 I highly recommend the FreeNas route.
Although Mac OS can deliver most services FreeNas can, the really tempting ones like iSCSI or ZFS are not supported though.
I recently build a new FreeNas machine for my home network based on ZFS. These are the parts I bought:
9 x 2TB WD 20EADS (8 for the server, 1 spare)
Intel Gigabit CT Desktop PCIe NIC
4GB Kingston RAM
Asus P7P55D Deluxe (9 SATA ports, 8 for the storage array, 1 for the system drive)
Intel Core I3 530 (smallest I could get for the board, plenty of fast for the FreeNas box)
530W Be Quiet Power Supply
and a case with 9 5.25" bays for 3 hot swap hard drive bays that each hold 4 drives
Some silent fans and you're done.
Total cost was about 1500€. The drives are configured as a raidz2, so two parity drives, which gives me a total capacity of 12TB (advertised of course).
I haven't measured the power consumption of the machine yet, but I reckon it's below 150W.
Rather than using a G4 or G5 I highly recommend the FreeNas route.
Although Mac OS can deliver most services FreeNas can, the really tempting ones like iSCSI or ZFS are not supported though.
I recently build a new FreeNas machine for my home network based on ZFS. These are the parts I bought:
9 x 2TB WD 20EADS (8 for the server, 1 spare)
Intel Gigabit CT Desktop PCIe NIC
4GB Kingston RAM
Asus P7P55D Deluxe (9 SATA ports, 8 for the storage array, 1 for the system drive)
Intel Core I3 530 (smallest I could get for the board, plenty of fast for the FreeNas box)
530W Be Quiet Power Supply
and a case with 9 5.25" bays for 3 hot swap hard drive bays that each hold 4 drives
Some silent fans and you're done.
Total cost was about 1500€. The drives are configured as a raidz2, so two parity drives, which gives me a total capacity of 12TB (advertised of course).
I haven't measured the power consumption of the machine yet, but I reckon it's below 150W.
prostuff1
macrumors 65816
You can also look into something like unRAID. I run it for all my storage needs and it works great. You can read up on it on the unRAID Wiki and the unRAID Forum.
Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer.
Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer.
gsahli
macrumors 6502a
Transporteur has a nice setup - which reminded me that with a G4 especially, and maybe a G5 too, you will need a SATA card (serial ATA, which all the new large drives are) to use large new internal hard drives.
Take a look here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/Hard+Drive+Controller+Cards
For a G4, you'd need this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/FTST1S2/
or this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/TSATA/
Take a look here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/Hard+Drive+Controller+Cards
For a G4, you'd need this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/FTST1S2/
or this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/TSATA/
HE15MAN
macrumors 6502a
Transporteur
macrumors 68030
Sounds very nice, but I think I need about 1/3 of that!
You can install FreeNas on almost every machine, just adapt it to your storage needs.
You could also go with AMD which makes the machine a little less expensive.
I would have opted for AMD, too but there was no AMD board with that much SATA connectors, which is why I went the Intel route.
Transporteur
macrumors 68030
Processors / Main boards are generally all compatible, as long as they are x86 (which excludes PowerMacs for example).
You have to care about RAID controllers though.
Compatible controllers are on this list: http://freenas.org/freenas_users_hardware
You have to care about RAID controllers though.
Compatible controllers are on this list: http://freenas.org/freenas_users_hardware
spaceballl
macrumors 68030
So if you like the DIY route, then I recommend building a server on Debian. I used a pretty neat piece of hardware, the sheevaplug. It's literally the size of a wall wart power adaptor. I have it sync my iTunes library over and power music throughout the house via squeezebox server. Works great! I also use it as a NAS and as a web server with the Tonido. I have a few blog articles here.
FreeNAS is great, but the project is in transition right now so I don't think it's the best time to jump onboard. It's currently based on FreeBSD, but the project is migrating to Debian... so i would wait until that is done and just build your own debian based box for now.
FreeNAS is great, but the project is in transition right now so I don't think it's the best time to jump onboard. It's currently based on FreeBSD, but the project is migrating to Debian... so i would wait until that is done and just build your own debian based box for now.
Transporteur
macrumors 68030
I don't see the conversion as a real issue. They said that the support for the FreeBSD kernel version will still be maintained.
I'm just wondering how they will deal with the ZFS issue. AFAIK ZFS is still not implemented in Debian, isn't it?
spaceballl
macrumors 68030
Are you looking for "support" or are you looking to be able to have the most recent software? If you just want support, you're fine. But if you'd like to be able to have an easy upgrade path, then i don't think it's the best time to jump onboard.
As for ZFS, I'm really not sure.... I THINK it is implemented in some linux distros, though... not sure...
Transporteur
macrumors 68030
Never touch a running system.
My servers generally run for 3 years without any changes at all. Once they finally do what I want, I don't touch them again. The software (FreeNAS) runs absolutely stable so I don't see any reason to update the software and risk the stability of the machine.
spaceballl
macrumors 68030
Never touch a running system.
My servers generally run for 3 years without any changes at all. Once they finally do what I want, I don't touch them again. The software (FreeNAS) runs absolutely stable so I don't see any reason to update the software and risk the stability of the machine.
I can't argue with that! I can't tell you how many times I've messed up a perfectly good server by just tweaking a few too many settings!
However, that's how I learn... and each subsequent build was much better than the previous!