NAS update
You’ll see that in a previous post, I mentioned that I was putting together a network attached storage server for my flat, where I could store all of my files and have access to them wherever I am. Now that it’s all built and configured, I thought that I might share a bit about what I’ve done.
In the end I didn’t use FreeNAS as the operating system, mainly because it has issues with my motherboard‘s ethernet adapter, but also because it runs quite slow. Instead I used Ubuntu Server edition and installed all the services I needed manually, which is far more fun that using something out-of-the-box!
After setting up Ubuntu, I installed all the boring basics – Apache, PHP, MySql, Proftpd and Samba. With that done (very easily) I started setting up some interesting extras.
One of the best things about having an always-on server is that you can download torrents all day and all night. So of course the first thing to be installed was Transmission. I wanted a light, fast command-line bittorrent client which has a good web GUI, and it was a perfect choice. If I’m out and somebody mentions a movie I should watch, I can tell my computer to go ahead and download it, so that when I arrive home it’s waiting for me.
The other thing I wanted was to make my music collection available online (only to me of course 
) After looking at lots of different programs, I settled on Ampache. As most of my music is in Flac format, I needed a program that could transcode on-the-fly, so I could listen to everything even on a slow internet connection. Also, it is designed to run on PHP and MySql which I had usefully already set up.
Finally, to make the whole project worthwhile, I set the server up to run this website. I used to host it using Web Mania which was costing me £25 a year, but now I can spend that on electricity to keep my server running! To do this, I needed a DNS server to redirect the domain name to my house. Luckily, there are people who do this for free, such as DNS Exit. As I don’t have a static IP address, I set up a script to run on my server which updates DNS Exit with my current IP, making sure it always goes to the right place.
Now that it’s all up-and-running, I’m very happy. I’ve got access to all my videos, music and pictures, complete control over my webspace, and am able to download things even when not at home! And the final bill? £160 plus £75 for the 1TB hard drive. Not exactly cheap, but it should be able to hold its weight for a long time!
