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How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

jeremymorgan.com

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Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#31

Post by Nursie »

dcuthbertson wrote: post #26
Nursie wrote: post #7

The Pi is great and all, but after running setups like these for many years (ARM server + USB enclosure), I came to the conclusion you're better off with some other solution if you're transferring even a few GB around the place. Of course most of those solutions would be a lot more expensive. The HP Microserver is my current solution, with zfs. And even that could be a lot better as there's no hardware crypto support…

> did nobody ever have a small, general purpose computer before the Raspberry Pi came along? I'm not sure I follow - does anything that runs http://archlinuxarm.org/ count? I have four Pogoplugs at home. For about the last year or so, two of them run a web server and an rsync backup server. The other two are for learning/experimenting.

Sorry, text and sarcasm don't always play nicely. I've had sheevaplugs and before that NSLU2s, and a couple of more exotic ARM boards too.

I was more just wondering why this was written at all, because 'how to plug in a USB enclosure' and 'basic samba config' are topics that are so well covered already that it seems odd anyone would write more about them. Adding 'on the Raspberry Pi' seems to be enough for people to consider it novel these days, and I start to wonder if the 'on the Raspberry Pi' crowd realize that the Pi really is just another linux computer.

Note that I'm not saying this is a bad little tutorial.

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#32

Post by noonespecial »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

Interesting, so there are like a billion blog entries "How to build a Raspberry Pi Server" where X is "file", "print", "media", "security", "email", "web", "DNS", Etc. They are really just how to configure a Linux box to serve that function, except the new hawtness is the Raspberry Pi. One would assume people would get it by now that its just another Linux server so anything you can do with a Linux server you can do…

I find that fan-freaking-tastic because I've noticed that the people doing these things often had very little Linux experience to start with. The pi makes it unscary because so little is at risk. They don't feel like they're working on a "computer" and its immediately obvious that if you screw up, you can just pull out your card and reflash.

After they wax-on, wax-off for a while with the pi, they are often surprised to learn that they know Linux Kung-Fu.

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#33

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

dcuthbertson wrote: post #26
Nursie wrote: post #7

The Pi is great and all, but after running setups like these for many years (ARM server + USB enclosure), I came to the conclusion you're better off with some other solution if you're transferring even a few GB around the place. Of course most of those solutions would be a lot more expensive. The HP Microserver is my current solution, with zfs. And even that could be a lot better as there's no hardware crypto support…

> did nobody ever have a small, general purpose computer before the Raspberry Pi came along? I'm not sure I follow - does anything that runs http://archlinuxarm.org/ count? I have four Pogoplugs at home. For about the last year or so, two of them run a web server and an rsync backup server. The other two are for learning/experimenting.

He was not asking sincerely; He was commenting on the influx of articles representing the current fascination with using the Raspberry Pi for projects like this (since there is nothing particularly new about the R-Pi other than its low price).

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#34

Post by _b8r0 »

gbog wrote: post #24

To those always replying to raspberry articles that it can be done with other setups, and that it's nothing new, I think you're missing the point: All those tutorials show that a single very cheap and well designed piece of open hardware can be very versatile and that everything we tend to see as magic is just a one page how-to long. I'm in my forties, an since I have had my first walkman I wanted to get inside the m…

> I have seen iPods, but can you ssh in an iPod?

If you jailbreak it you can. Here's[1] a one page how-to long guide.

> I have seen media centers, but can you bulk rename files or script it?

Of course, providing you're using something like XBMC. For renaming you don't even need to script, there's friendly programs[2] out there if you want.

> Now with my raspberry I finally got my dream for real, and I can even ssh to it from my phone when I'm away.

I'm glad you're enjoying your Pi, but the argument about it being possible to do with other setups is just as valid. You can SSH to almost anything that'll run SSH from your phone.

[1] - http://guides.macrumors.com/SSH_into_your_iPod_touch_(Window...

[2] - http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Category:Rename_tools

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#35

Post by adeaver »

agumonkey wrote: post #28
ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

Interesting, so there are like a billion blog entries "How to build a Raspberry Pi Server" where X is "file", "print", "media", "security", "email", "web", "DNS", Etc. They are really just how to configure a Linux box to serve that function, except the new hawtness is the Raspberry Pi. One would assume people would get it by now that its just another Linux server so anything you can do with a Linux server you can do…

Yep, interesting how price point and form factor twist people's state of mind.

Not only that but recoverability. I use the Pi as a media server (files hosting on a NAS drive) and if the Pi dies, I drop $40, swap out the SD card and I'm done.

I have the SD card imaged and saved elsewhere so if the card dies, I just get another, re-image and plug it in.

Can't do that with a Mac Mini (what I was using)

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#36

Post by dobbsbob »

Why does anybody use Rasberry Pi. It is a black box tightly sealed with patents and protected by corporations. It isn't even remotely an open platform unless you think a few pages of documentation for the enormous amounts of blobs is 'open'. It's one big mess of Broadcom firmware.

Go buy a beagleboard instead, or any taiwanese hardware almost all of them release full docs

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#37

Post by NegativeK »

dobbsbob wrote: post #36

Why does anybody use Rasberry Pi. It is a black box tightly sealed with patents and protected by corporations. It isn't even remotely an open platform unless you think a few pages of documentation for the enormous amounts of blobs is 'open'. It's one big mess of Broadcom firmware. Go buy a beagleboard instead, or any taiwanese hardware almost all of them release full docs

Hardware documentation isn't relevant to someone who needs a tutorial in setting up a Linux fileserver.

I'd definitely prefer that the entire stack is open source, but there's a lower limit to practicality.

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#38

Post by chimeracoder »

dobbsbob wrote: post #36

Why does anybody use Rasberry Pi. It is a black box tightly sealed with patents and protected by corporations. It isn't even remotely an open platform unless you think a few pages of documentation for the enormous amounts of blobs is 'open'. It's one big mess of Broadcom firmware. Go buy a beagleboard instead, or any taiwanese hardware almost all of them release full docs

Could you point to anything within a comparable price range to the Raspberry Pi? I have some decent use cases for a ~$40 computer, and I'd gladly purchase an open version if one is available, but the Beagleboards seem to be three or four times as expensive.

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#39

Post by bduerst »

noonespecial wrote: post #32
ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

Interesting, so there are like a billion blog entries "How to build a Raspberry Pi Server" where X is "file", "print", "media", "security", "email", "web", "DNS", Etc. They are really just how to configure a Linux box to serve that function, except the new hawtness is the Raspberry Pi. One would assume people would get it by now that its just another Linux server so anything you can do with a Linux server you can do…

I find that fan-freaking-tastic because I've noticed that the people doing these things often had very little Linux experience to start with. The pi makes it unscary because so little is at risk. They don't feel like they're working on a "computer" and its immediately obvious that if you screw up, you can just pull out your card and reflash. After they wax-on, wax-off for a while with the pi, they are often surprised…

I bought a pi for a Raspbmc media center, and because I wanted it to do more than the vanilla XBMC, I ended up having to learn linux. I ended up buying a second pi for a Samba NAS and web server.

I've spent a couple years developing with WAMP and dealing with windows BS, but now I'm running an Ubuntu VM and building a dev box for linux.

The pi is ultimately what put me in this direction :)

Re: How to Build a Raspberry Pi File Server

#40

Post by stevekemp »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

Interesting, so there are like a billion blog entries "How to build a Raspberry Pi Server" where X is "file", "print", "media", "security", "email", "web", "DNS", Etc. They are really just how to configure a Linux box to serve that function, except the new hawtness is the Raspberry Pi. One would assume people would get it by now that its just another Linux server so anything you can do with a Linux server you can do…

We saw the same thing a few years ago with the release of Ubuntu. As soon as the first couple of releases were out there were a million and one blog-spam articles like:

* How to run Apache on hardy * How to run Apache on lucid * How to run Apache on karmic

I was particularly annoyed because I'd written several Debian tutorials which were frequently copied/pasted from and butchered into ad-revenue for other people.

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