Computer Hope

Hi all,

So looking to set up a file server on a Poweredge R620 Server. I've set up the server on vmware esxi OS and am now looking to have a play with this bad boy.

With the first virtual machine that I set up, I'd like it to manage a File Server. I have looked high and low on the net and there doesn't seem to be much info on setting up file servers (unbelievably), feel free to prove me wrong on that (I would love to be proven wrong in this instance). There's a bunch of info on setting up a NAS device, however the NAS devices all have their own proprietary firmware etc and I just couldn't find a video that had any overlap or helpful info.

The silver lining is that it has lead me to this forum. I have read lots of Computer Hope's blog material in the past and was pleasantly surprised to see that there's an awesome little forum here too.

So is there anyone here that could walk me through setting up a file server? I've never done it before, but am very keen to learn.

I think NAS was originally distinct from a File Server because it was used to describe devices that let you access the data across the internet- like accessing storage at your house when you were away. The name "Network Attached Storage" meant that it inevitably supplanted "File Server", since a File Server is, literally, Storage attached to a network. And I guess it sounds cooler.

So anyway, what you are looking for is indeed called a NAS nowadays. I don't make the rules.

Now, of course, if you go searching for NAS stuff you'll get recommendations for those proprietary devices you mentioned. But, you can build your own or install software on a computer/server and make it a NAS/File Server.

By coincidence, I set up a file server on my network just last week. I wanted readily accessible mass storage that I could access through network shares anywhere on my LAN.

I used OpenMediaVault, which is a specialized Debian-derived Linux distro designed for a bunch of different functions, but which serves competently for the task.  Basically you install it and then once installed and setup, you can connect to the system through a web browser on another system on the network, and do the configuration to set up shares.

In my case I went a bit further and used some plugin software called mergerfs (which also has an OpenMediaVault plugin) which allows the creation of a "virtual" disk that is the merged view of multiple disks, which is useful since you can then share that virtual disk folder, and when you copy files to the server it figures out which drive to put it on based on how you have it configured.

Thanks for the clarification between NAS and file server. In my quest for info setting up a FS I tried researching the difference between the two haha. They are the same thing although a lot of people try to pick out various differences.

Anyway. I set one up using Ubuntu's Samba. It works just fine. I wouldn't mind setting up a few on different OS's though to really get the knack of it. The Samba file pretty much did all the configuration for me, so while I was successful setting a FS up, I don't feel like I learned as much as I could.

I've heard of openmediavault before. May set one up using that as well as a Microsoft server software too.

Any Windows machine can be a file server.  Just "share" a folder.  Make it read-only or read-write.  Samba is a file sharing service that uses the Windows protocol, namely SMB (Server Message Block).  The other common file-service, especially on *NIX is NFS (network file system).  I believe that openmediavault can use either one.