Cisco Smart Storage NAS Options

Cisco has always been looked upon as a reliable brand in the IT world, even though a few problems with their "home" sub-brand, Linksys, got bad press. On the whole, Cisco remains a giant in the networking hardware market.

Some time ago, Cisco launched a new series of NAS devices targeting the Small Business segment, but in my opinion also eyeing the always eager SOHO market. This new series is the NSS 300 Series Smart Storage,

How to build your own NAS – Part 4

Now that you have your NAS up and running you may need to make changes to the share setup, install updates, etc. and since you don't want to have a display, keyboard and mouse attached to it, you will need a way to remotely administer your NAS. That's where Webmin comes into play.

Webmin is a web-based interface for

How to build your own NAS – Part 3

Now that you have familiarized yourself with your Ubuntu Linux box, let's get the NAS bit to work!

To start, you need to install Samba (no, not the Brasilian music style) and configure it. To accomplish this log in with your username and password and go to the "Accessories" menu on the desktop and open a "Terminal" session. You now need to switch to the Administrator account by typing the following in the Terminal windows:

How to build your own NAS – Part 2

Now that you have all the required hardware, this is what you need to do:

Install the SATA card on an available PCI slot in your computer. Leave the old HDD in the computer, connected to an IDE port. Connect the new HDDs to the SATA controller with a SATA cable. Connect the power cable to the new HDDS if these have one of the old power connector sockets or, if not, you'll need an adapter for each SATA HDD. Close the box!

As I mentioned earlier, you will ideally have

How to build your own NAS – Part 1

For those of you who have a growing collection of digital pictures, movies and documents and have more than one computer at home, both the availability and security of those files are a concern. As discussed in a previous blog, "To NAS or not to NAS", the purchase of the right Network Attached Storage (NAS) device may be the solution, but the prices of these handy little devices is often prohibitive, especially in times of economic crisis as the ones we are going through.

One of my favourite NAS options is the

To NAS or not to NAS

Storage of data has become a matter of (digital) life or death, and backing up your data before something goes wrong is more relevant now than ever before. You see, it's not just about making sure you have a copy of your CV or a couple pictures your friend sent you. With the advent of digital photography and its adoption by the masses, the chances are that all your new pics are in digital format, nicely stored on your hard drive, not to mention a few home movies made with your digital camcorder, where your kid utters their first words or shows their first missing teeth!