NanoNAS

Infobox OS
name = NanoNAS


caption = NanoNAS
developer = Server Elements
family = Linux
working_state = Current
license = Proprietary EULA
supported_platforms = x86
ui = Console/Terminal
kernel_type = Monolithic kernel, Linux
website = [http://www.serverelements.com/ serverelements.com]

NanoNAS is v2 of the Linux distribution NASLite. For x86-based computers, with PCI interface, the entire OS fits onto a 3.5 inch floppy disk, providing a way of using the computer as network-attached storage. It supports serving files to clients running Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. Other proprietary versions are available which support different networking protocols, or booting the operating system from a USB Mass Storage device.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

NanoNAS runs well on obsolete hardware, but requires at least a computer with PCI interface. Other minimum requirements are a Pentium CPU, 32 MB RAM, a PCI megabit ethernet card, IDE hard disk drive, and a conventional floppy disk drive. [ [http://www.serverelements.com/nanonas.php NanoNAS: General info & hardware requirements] ]

Networking Capabilities

NanoNAS turns its target machine into a simple file server. Since file serving takes up very little processing speed as opposed to network speed or hard drive speed, it is able to run on comparatively old computers with little processing power. As it runs from a floppy disk, hypothetically all (usually four) IDE channels can be used for harddrives. NanoNAS can also support additional IDE controller cards.

NanoNAS has two variants supporting different file serving protocols. These are Samba to support serving to Microsoft Windows client machines or AFP to serve Mac OS X computers. It also supports remote administration via telnet, and includes a web server to display usage and error logs.

Compatibility

Since it is based on Linux, NanoNAS (like other Linux distributions) supports new larger hard drives that often are not supported by older machines, by bypassing the BIOS and directly accessing the harddrive(s), greatly increasing the usefulness of an older computer for serving large amounts of data.

See also

*NASLite
*FreeNAS
*Openfiler
*NexentaStor - Advanced enterprise-level NAS software solution (Debian/OpenSolaris-based)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.serverelements.com NanoNAS Homepage]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/nanonas/ Sourceforge Project]