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Looking ahead to when I return home and further on to when I move mid-2008, I would like to get a NAS setup for the myriad computer and computer-like objects that litter my life. Here's what I will have upon my return (roughly):
When I move later next year these numbers should approximately double across the board thanks to the fact that I'm moving in with another technophile. Just among my own items there's a strong urge to want them connected together by more than just a router. I have looked into the NAS thing a little bit, but I'm pretty far behind the curve on it. I checked out Small Network Builder, but most of their How-Tos for NAS seem to be either outdated or centered around creating 14-disk behemoths which is a bit excessive and overly time- and money-consuming for my needs. I've outlined my needs below:
Small(ish) Form Factor
As much as I would just love to have yet another giant tower taking up space somewhere, I'd prefer to create something that uses a smaller form factor. Maybe something I can throw on a counter or a shelf.
Shared Storage
A pretty basic need, but I will need to be able to have shared storage that will work with the Macs, PC and Linux boxes seamlessly. This will be used primarily for development resources as well as backup and random storage.
Web Server
I do web development for a living and instead of running a separate web server on each computer I'd like a central box for this. However, I need something beyond the ho-hum PHP/MySQL offerings that most pre-packaged NAS solutions provide. Such a simplistic setup would be close to worthless to me.
Printer Sharing
Because who needs more than one printer, really?
Media Sharing
I'd like to be able to share media between the boxes. For instance, I think it would be absolutely awesome to have a single iTunes library that could be accessed over the network (wirelessly if needed) instead of mirroring my iTunes library across multiple machines. This goes for stuff like movies as well.
As I mentioned previously, after some looking I have yet to find a readily available NAS system that meets my needs. I presume the best solution would be to setup a *nix box for this, but I am pretty unfamiliar with the process as far as shared storage, printer sharing, and media sharing goes. I don't expect anybody to give me a step-by-step guide, but pointing me in the right direction would be very helpful. Thanks all!
- 1 x MacBook Pro
- 1 x Mac Pro
- 2 x PC (XP/Linux)
- 1 x XBOX 360 (Elite)
- 1 x Printer
When I move later next year these numbers should approximately double across the board thanks to the fact that I'm moving in with another technophile. Just among my own items there's a strong urge to want them connected together by more than just a router. I have looked into the NAS thing a little bit, but I'm pretty far behind the curve on it. I checked out Small Network Builder, but most of their How-Tos for NAS seem to be either outdated or centered around creating 14-disk behemoths which is a bit excessive and overly time- and money-consuming for my needs. I've outlined my needs below:
Small(ish) Form Factor
As much as I would just love to have yet another giant tower taking up space somewhere, I'd prefer to create something that uses a smaller form factor. Maybe something I can throw on a counter or a shelf.
Shared Storage
A pretty basic need, but I will need to be able to have shared storage that will work with the Macs, PC and Linux boxes seamlessly. This will be used primarily for development resources as well as backup and random storage.
Web Server
I do web development for a living and instead of running a separate web server on each computer I'd like a central box for this. However, I need something beyond the ho-hum PHP/MySQL offerings that most pre-packaged NAS solutions provide. Such a simplistic setup would be close to worthless to me.
Printer Sharing
Because who needs more than one printer, really?
Media Sharing
I'd like to be able to share media between the boxes. For instance, I think it would be absolutely awesome to have a single iTunes library that could be accessed over the network (wirelessly if needed) instead of mirroring my iTunes library across multiple machines. This goes for stuff like movies as well.
As I mentioned previously, after some looking I have yet to find a readily available NAS system that meets my needs. I presume the best solution would be to setup a *nix box for this, but I am pretty unfamiliar with the process as far as shared storage, printer sharing, and media sharing goes. I don't expect anybody to give me a step-by-step guide, but pointing me in the right direction would be very helpful. Thanks all!
