The most detailed guide to building a simple NAS with nas4free!

My 14TB (and growing) NAS

Good morning campers!

I have good news, the super detailed guide to building a NAS using nas4free 9.1 is now complete! The article is written in two parts. Part one helps you to decide just what type of NAS you really ought to be building while part two is the detailed account of installing and configuring nas4free. This portion also covers the somewhat confusing task of creating users, installing disks, building mount points, building share points, and generally making things work.

There are a few caveats that I should mention now.
These are really provisos to avoid any would be trolling:

• This guide is the result of trial and error with this software. 
• I have spent two years playing freeNAS 7.2 and now nas4free 9.1
• In that time I have never found a post on how this stuff is supposed to be setup.
• I do not claim to have any sort of professional (or amateur) knowledge concerning freeBSD.
• This guide is not here to help you create a quadruple redundant dual gigabit software raid ZFS monster with complicated user and group file permissions that would baffle Steven Hawking.
• When starting my build I had no desire to build a RAID box.
• There is exactly one user using this NAS, me. I do not now, nor will I ever need fancy security.
• Hackers are not out to get me or my files.
• The purpose of this machine is to store and serve out media.
• I have no idea what you are using your NAS for, but mine was built to hold and serve TV & Movies to my HTPC's.
• It works well for this.

With those warnings out of the way please browse around and comment as you have questions!

DIY NAS: with freeNAS [Step 1]
DIY NAS: with nas4free [step 2]

DIY NAS: with nas4free [step 2]

If you have not done so already, please read the introductory post on building your own NAS, DIY NAS: with freeNAS - step 1.

The good stuff...

1. Boot Disk
2. Install OS
3. Configure System
4. Add Users/Groups
5. Add Disks
6. Build Mount Points
7. Build Shares
8. Enjoy sweet, sweet, sweet, satisfaction...

freeNAS 8.2 released

The newest iteration of freeNAS 8 was released and I am going to try to take some time to play around with it.

Since it is still 'experimental' and might frak my server up, I will wait until I have an old machine to play around with. Maybe a few weeks...

DIY NAS: with freeNAS - Step 2

This is the second step in building a NAS with freeNAS. If you missed step one, you can find it here.

DIY NAS: with freeNAS - Step 1

Step 1: Preparation

• You have read Home Servers & NAS devices: an overview
• You are finally ready to dive into your first dedicated file server.
• You have decided that a low power NAS with minimal server function is what you want.
• You have no idea where to begin!

Let's assume that you are going to build your own hardware. This guide is applicable to pre-manufactured NAS boxes, but they often come pre-installed with their own software. You can probably work around that software and use freeNAS if you want, but the goal of this guide will be to help an individual to put together a terrific NAS from scratch.

Home Servers & NAS devices: an overview

(QNAP TS-410 ~$299)

You might be considering building a NAS or a Home Server, but you are unsure what is right for you. It is important to first ask yourself exactly what you plan to do with your new toy.