Want to build my own NAS. Which derivative to use?

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SmaugLegacy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue 08 Dec 2009, 07:59

Want to build my own NAS. Which derivative to use?

#1 Post by SmaugLegacy »

Hello

I want to increase the safety (or do I mean security?, It's the same word in Swedish so I often misuse them.) around my backups, so I have decided to move the physical storage of my backups to my garden shed so it will survive a fire. I want to send my backups there by using my wlan and have an old "thin client" type of disk- and fanless computer to store the backups on usb connected harddrives.

I've been looking on FreeNAS (www.freenas.org) but it require to much ram to suit my machine. So, I decided to use Puppy or a derivative.

BUT there are so many to choose from!

My requirements are:
  • 1. Installable on an USB-stick. (I think all puppies are?)
    2. Minimum of diskwrites (since I want it to run from usb-stick)
    3. Password protected user (the user may be root)
    4. sFTP or FTP server
    5. Wlan support with WPA encryption
    6. Data file encryption or data disk encryption (in case of theft)
I think that Puppy itself handles point 1-5, but I'm not sure about number 6. I think I read about a derivative with support for disk encryption somewhere, but I can't find that post again.

Thank you for any suggestions!

/SmaugLegacy

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Aitch
Posts: 6518
Joined: Wed 04 Apr 2007, 15:57
Location: Chatham, Kent, UK

#2 Post by Aitch »

Something may be of interest

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=20221

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=27109

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=49765

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=18639

AFAIK Barry changed the write frequency for pendrives, and the issue of reliability for them has been well covered, not a problem

There are also ext2/3 formatted save flies suggestions elsewhere

it's a matter of choice....

Aitch :)

User avatar
William (Dthdealer)
Posts: 146
Joined: Thu 30 Oct 2008, 06:41
Location: Australia (GMT +10)

Re: Want to build my own NAS. Which derivative to use?

#3 Post by William (Dthdealer) »

Hello there!

Puppy is probably the best choice for your needs here.

Security and safety are mostly ambiguous (the same) words in computing.
SmaugLegacy wrote:
  • 1. Installable on an USB-stick. (I think all puppies are?)
    2. Minimum of diskwrites (since I want it to run from usb-stick)
    3. Password protected user (the user may be root)
    4. sFTP or FTP server
    5. Wlan support with WPA encryption
    6. Data file encryption or data disk encryption (in case of theft)
1. Yes - Puppy linux and derivatives/puplets are all CD,DVD,HD and flash-drive installable
2. All actions you take and files you save will remain in RAM. On your desktop there will be an icon that writes all changes to your flash drive.

I've used Puppy on one USB stick for two years now and it has been fine. I even dropped it in the toilet once and it still works.

3. See answer for question 6
4. I'm sure there is a ftp server .pet
5. Yes - Wlan should be in Puppy and all (mainstream) wireless encryption schemes are built-in.
6. The first time you shutdown Puppy, you will be asked to save a 'session' in a 'pup_save'. This is a file that holds all of your files and settings, and you are given the option for encryption.

The heavy encryption is recommended. It is fast and takes years to crack. It is also designed to minimise writes on USB drives.

Light encryption is crap for USB sticks. It isn't as reliable and is a bit quirkier to setup.

Finally you can choose to have no encyption, which isn't perfect. However if you format your USB stick as ext2 (or any other Linux fs), 90% of computers in the world won't be able to view its contents, as they run Windoze.

When starting puppy up from there on, you will be prompted for a password during bootup. If you enter the right password, the pup_save is decrypted and Puppy loads. If not, you are told the pup_save cannot be decrypted and you are asked for the password again.

From here on an icon (see answer for question 2) will be on your desktop labelled 'save'. Click it to manually save your session. Every half hour and when you shutdown the session is also saved - but these can be disabled if you wish.

SmaugLegacy
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue 08 Dec 2009, 07:59

#4 Post by SmaugLegacy »

Thank you for your fast answers.

I'll look into those links, but it definitely looks like Puppy will suit my needs.

Thanks a lot

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