NAS, Easy And Free

Do you need a quick and easy NAS solution? Check out the great tutorial on setting up FreeNAS over at BigUncleDave’s Weblog. Ten minutes to be up and running is all you need (after you have your ISO image burned).

He takes you through all the steps needed to get your own copy of FreeNAS (FreeBSD based Network Attached Storage server software) up and quickly running in the very aptly titled post, Creating NAS In 10 Minutes.

If you have basic networking skills (i.e., you can set up a router) and are familiar with Unix based disk management it will be easy enough. Even if you are unfamiliar with the latter, you should be able to get up and running with this great tutorial. The tutorial focuses on a live install based NAS solution rather than a full hard disk install, and shows you how to get a setup running that is suitable for LAN parties and similar immediate needs. You can find plenty of additional information in the FreeNAS wiki.

Here’s the skinny on FreeNAS from DL.TV…

Also, while mentioning BSD, you might want to take a look at:

• pfSense — According to the website, it is “…a free, open source customized distribution of FreeBSD tailored for use as a firewall and router.”
• PC-BSD — BSD for the desktop!
• AskoziaPBX — BSD based PBX phone system.