Puppy as wireless NAS

Using applications, configuring, problems
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greengeek
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Puppy as wireless NAS

#1 Post by greengeek »

I would like to use an old laptop (model as yet unspecified) and install some version of puppy so that the laptop harddrive could host my files and make them available to other family members, who would be connecting wirelessly.

I anticipate the laptop probably having a wired connection to the router (it will probably sit next to the router), and a separate wireless card to broadcast the files when requested.

At the moment we don't have any home network set up, but we do have a standard ADSL router which also has a wireless interface, so our current wireless link is used only for internet access. I don't know if my intended filesharing link should use the router wireless connection somehow, or use the wireless interface in the laptop.

Has anyone seen a puppy topic covering such a setup or is currently doing this? I have found links regarding connecting a commercial NAS, but not a topic "building" a NAS from puppy.

(I assume that any puppy PC with a large usb HDD could in theory be configured as a NAS)

I guess the knowledge I need to cover is:
Choosing the puppy (probably almost any puppy will do?? I will probably also trial PussyPi for this as I want a low-drain solar powered version aswell)
Deciding whether to use the router wireless port or the laptop wireless port to distribute the files.
Setting up the filesharing on the host laptop.
Discovering the fileshare fom other PCs
Possibly separating files so that some are secured by password and some are "open" or perhaps "read only"

The biggest problem here is educating myself about networking techniques because I have tried to avoid networking as much as possible and use the family PCs in "standalone mode"

I have played with booting the family PCs into Puppy via PXE (because that was possible without even having any networking set up...) and will probably incorporate that function into the PuppyNAS server too.

Any suggestions appreciated.

p310don
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#2 Post by p310don »

the easiest thing to do is to download and run this puppy:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60406


It has everything you are asking for.

It really doesn't get much easier than that one.

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rcrsn51
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Re: Puppy as wireless NAS

#3 Post by rcrsn51 »

greengeek wrote:At the moment we don't have any home network set up,
Go to each machine that you use and type the command "ifconfig". Do they all have an IP address like 192.168.2.xx or 10.0.0.xx?

From each machine, try to ping other machines with

Code: Select all

ping aaa.bbb.cc.dd
Is this successful? If so, you already have a network.
I don't know if my intended filesharing link should use the router wireless connection somehow, or use the wireless interface in the laptop.
It won't matter how the server machine is connected to your network - either plugged directly into a LAN port on the router or via its wifi. Once it has an IP address, it should be visible to client machines.
Possibly separating files so that some are secured by password and some are "open" or perhaps "read only"
Look at Samba-TNG. The How-to describes how to manage different levels of security.

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greengeek
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#4 Post by greengeek »

p310don wrote:the easiest thing to do is to download and run this puppy:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60406
Awesome, thanks. I downloaded the TNG version referred to in that thread at:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 6&start=44
and within 3 minutes my pupServer was up and running and I was able to view / play the servers documents and music files from another Puppy machine at the other end of the house. So easy!

Next step to trial the Windows machines.
Look at Samba-TNG. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 263#453263
The How-to describes how to manage different levels of security.
Thanks rcrsn51, that will be very useful.

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greengeek
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Re: Puppy as wireless NAS

#5 Post by greengeek »

rcrsn51 wrote:Go to each machine that you use and type the command "ifconfig". Do they all have an IP address like 192.168.2.xx or 10.0.0.xx?
From each machine, try to ping other machines with

Code: Select all

ping aaa.bbb.cc.dd
Is this successful? If so, you already have a network.
Hi rcrsn51, I have now had good success with serving files from PupServer 435 to other puppies on the network but have not yet succeeded in using a Windows machine to access the same data. I have tried pinging the PS435 machine from the Win PC and I do get a response (192.168.1.67). However if I try to ping the Win PC from the PS435 machine I get no response (although I have no idea if ping is even valid on Puppy..).

I have tried to find some sort of "network devices" screen on the WinPC but don't really know what to look for. I can see the icons for wired and wireless network and for "setup a new connection" etc but can't seem to see how to force it to "poll" the network and see what else it can find. This WinPC is XP home edition and I know that version is somewhat "network challenged" so maybe it does not have the ability to connect to other devices shares? The WinPC has no problem connecting to the router (dhcp) and connects fine to the internet through either wired or wireless as required.

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can use the WinPC to see the PupServer machine please? Thanks for any ideas.

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rcrsn51
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Re: Puppy as wireless NAS

#6 Post by rcrsn51 »

greengeek wrote:(although I have no idea if ping is even valid on Puppy..)
I don't understand this comment. Can you not ping Puppy machine A from Puppy machine B? Use the command I gave you above.
Do you have any suggestions as to how I can use the WinPC to see the PupServer machine please? Thanks for any ideas.
From the Samba-TNG How-To:
On a Windows client, create a shortcut on the desktop and make the location \\pupserver. Note that this name starts with two back-slashes.
This assumes that PS435 is using the server name "pupserver". Also:
The Puppy server's default workgroup name is pupgroup. Depending on the version of Windows, you may need to change the workgroup name in smb.conf (see below) to match that of your Windows clients. Some common names are WORKGROUP or MSHOME.
Does the Windows machine have File and Print Sharing enabled? Look under Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection > Properties.

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greengeek
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Re: Puppy as wireless NAS

#7 Post by greengeek »

Thank you rcrsn51, that has been successful and I can now access Pupserver from my WinPC
(although I have no idea if ping is even valid on Puppy..)
Sorry, I wasn't clear at all. What I meant was I had no idea if a "Puppy ping" should be able to access a WinPC. (apologies for my networking ignorance...). For some reason PS435 allows me to ping puppy PCs but when I try to ping my WinPC it returns the following response then stalls and does nothing else:
#ping 192.168.1.65
PING 192.168.1.65 (192.168.1.65): 56 data bytes

HOWEVER, although I got no response to the ping, this did not stop the server connection being successful in the end.
On a Windows client, create a shortcut on the desktop and make the location \\pupserver. Note that this name starts with two back-slashes.
Wow, that worked perfectly. I am pretty ignorant of how to use networking and have so much to learn. As soon as I opened that shortcut the server folder was visible.
Does the Windows machine have File and Print Sharing enabled? Look under Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection > Properties.
Yes, turns out this was already enabled.

Thanks very much for the help!

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rcrsn51
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#8 Post by rcrsn51 »

Glad to help. I just successfully pinged an XP Pro machine from Puppy, so I'm surprised that your XP Home does not respond. I will set one of those up and try again.

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01micko
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#9 Post by 01micko »

On windows XP, ping is blocked by the firewall by default. If you disable the firewall momentarily then it will work.

Here is a nice little tut about ping and icmp in XP, just for reading's sake since you have it working.
Puppy Linux Blog - contact me for access

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greengeek
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#10 Post by greengeek »

01micko wrote:On windows XP, ping is blocked by the firewall by default. If you disable the firewall momentarily then it will work.
Thanks for the tute link. I followed those instructions and then I was able to ping the WinPC from the Puppy server. I hadn't heard of the "ICMP" abbreviation before. For the inexperienced it means Internet Control Message Protocol and has to be enabled to allow certain test/control messages (like a ping) to be responded to. It's ok to have that protocol turned off to reduce security risks, but obviously necessary to turn it on for pings to work.

If I had tried a ping from another windows PC (rather than Puppy PC) it would have failed to respond to that aswell. (nothing to do with the ping having originated from a Puppy)

Thank you both for the help.

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rcrsn51
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#11 Post by rcrsn51 »

After much googling, I finally figured out what you guys mean by a tut/tute. Is this a bit of southern hemispherical slang?

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#12 Post by Les Kerf »

Tutorial?

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#13 Post by greengeek »

rcrsn51 wrote:After much googling, I finally figured out what you guys mean by a tut/tute. Is this a bit of southern hemispherical slang?
Too right!
:-)

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#14 Post by greengeek »

Thanks all for the help - I have now been able to modify PupServer 435 to overcome a couple of problems I was having, and have added the ThinSlacko files into the PupServer iso so that it will now offer ThinSlacko via PXE to any device on the network that wants it. This is my first attempt at remastering so I'm keen to hear from others if it works for them:

Download links:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/3o8zxh5 ... ckoPXE_iso

http://www.filefactory.com/file/2kpxx0w ... PXEmd5_txt

(Just be patient and keep scrolling down to the free download buttons, enter the captcha thingy, scroll down again, wait 20 seconds etc - I haven't paid for the premium account so it's not quick...)

The download is 180MB. Heavy, but only because the ThinSlacko files are wrapped inside the Pupserver files. And you only download once - after it's burned to CD the size becomes unimportant. I just wanted the convenience of having an inbuilt bootable PXE OS - rather than having to make people do the conversion and setup separately.

The way I am using it is to use a 10 year old laptop as a NAS - by plugging in a usb stick containing all my files, booting it from CD, starting the Netboot server (in Network menu) and away it goes.

Any PC can access the server folders / files, and if the client PC has "boot from network" set, it will be fed ThinSlacko from the server. Why ThinSlacko? Smallish size, newish kernel, nice clean look, and it works with my hardware.

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#15 Post by greengeek »

I have uploaded a newer version which includes automount of all drives as well as autostart of the PXE server, so just boot from CD and the server PC will automatically be ready to provide the ThinSlacko files to any PC that wants it:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/5ug6zx0vx ... Slacko.iso
md5 = ecc08000ea09e44c7014e013ba74e97a
(probably an easier site to download from than the filefactory link above)

This assumes that your PCs are connected to a router that issues IP addresses automatically (this is the most common arrangement), but if you dont have such a setup, you can just use a crossover cable to link two PCs together. Just set the server PC to a static IP of something basic like 192.168.1.2 and mask of 255.255.255.0 (ie: after it boots from the PXE CD just run the network connection wizard and set the values you want)
Initially there is no need to worry about the IP address of the receiving PC - it will get it automatically from the PXE server. Then after the receiving PC has booted into ThinSlacko you can disconnect from the PXE server PC and just run the network connection wizard to set up dialup, wireless, PPPoE or wired connection as required.

The full autostart behaviour means you can set a PC to autoboot as soon as the power comes on and it will automatically set itself up to supply ThinSlacko to all other PCs across the network (if needed) and also supply access to all music/photo/archive files etc etc.

Even if you don't need the full server capabilities the PXE function is still a great way to test puppy on any PC that can boot from network. Really handy if you have a PC with no HDD or CD!

(Thanks again to jrb for his fantastic work setting up PupServer 435 which I was able to use as my base)

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#16 Post by greengeek »

At some point I need to re-visit this project and make a newer better version.
In terms of improving security i am currently thinking that there may be some value in using NTFS formatting for the storage drive as that would allow me to set the Puppy software to open the files as read only - by using rcrsn51's ntfs3g mod as described here
rcrsn51 wrote:The concern above seemed to be that even if you hid the drive icons, people could still manually mount and damage Windows. This fix is just another line of defense. It is only for NTFS. It doesn't permanently change the drive.
1. Go to the folder /bin
2. Locate the file ntfs-3g and rename it as ntfs-3g-full
3. In the same folder, create a script named ntfs-3g

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
ntfs-3g-full -o ro "$@"
I wonder if forcing the Puppy software to open the files 'readonly' will improve the overall security of the files? Or will other machines simply be able to access the files in r/w mode as before?

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#17 Post by rcrsn51 »

Are you talking about the files on the Samba server? The proper way to protect them is to declare the share as "read only = yes" in its definition.

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#18 Post by greengeek »

Thanks for the advice. That sounds like a good enough protection for me.
cheers

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