Cheap but Powerful HTPC

Now that I have a working NAS, I have been in the market for an HTPC for sometime now.  Here are some basic requirements:

• Reasonable price
• Must be able to play 1080p using HDMI
• Optical/Coax audio out
• Blu-ray play (preferable)
• 802.1n and Gig-E network
• Remote Control (can also use iPhone as remote)
• Low noise or fanless
• Windows 7 or OSX or Linux with XBMC

Based on the above requirements, I have narrowed down my choice to the following:

• ASRock ION330HT-BD (2nd-gen)
• Build a HTPC with Zotac IONITX-D-E 
• Zotac MAG 
• ASUS EeeBox PC EB1501 
• Acer AspireRevo 3610 

I am really excited about the ASRock ION 330HT-BD (2nd generation with Remote, Blu-ray and eSATA) which was just announced.  Also heard that it will be shipping end of November.

Home NAS Part 3: Installing FreeNAS 0.70 with ZFS on Intel SS-4200

There are a lot of sites which help you in install FreeNAS on DIY box or SS-4200.  Some of the are the SS-4200 wiki, FreeNAS project and this blog - Thanks Google ;-)

Here are the steps I followed for installing FreeNAS on an SS-4200 with a Serial connection:

1. Modified the pinout on the DB-9 to 10-pin header serial cable as described in the SS4200 wiki by re-soldering the wires.
   
2. There is a VGA/DB-9 slot on the back plate which can be stamped out to attach the DB-9 cable.
3. Connect 10/100/1000 NIC card to a router/switch with a DHCP.
4. Connect an external USB CDROM to the USB ports.
5. Download the FreeNAS 0.7RC2 LiveCD image and burn a CD using the iso and insert the CD into the CDROM.
   
6. Install the 4 SATA 1 TB drives.  The goal is install FreeNAS on the PATA IDE DOM or Compact Flash card connected to the IDE port and use the SATA drives for ZFS.
   
7. Use Putty to setup serial connection - 15200,8,N,1, FlowControl None and connect the modified serial cable above in step 1.
   
8. Power on the SS-4200, F4 for the BIOS when connecting through the serial port.
9. Once you enter the BIOS:
1. Go to Advanced -> Remote Access Configuration and modify the serial setting to 9600,8,N,1 because FreeBSD cannot do anything more that 9600.
2. Go to Boot -> Boot Device Priority and modify it to boot from CDROM.
   
3. Save the BIOS settings and restart.  Also kill the Putty or serial session and restart a new one with 9600 baud rate as the speed.
10. Press space bar during the initial boot process - this interrupts the FreeBSD boot goes to the boot: prompt.  At the prompt, type "-h" without the quotes for boot process to send output to the serial console.  However, sometimes the boot process is so fast that you may not be able to interrupt it - no problem.  There is another method:  After initial boot, there is a Menu on the screen for 5 seconds.  Type "5" to get to the "ok" prompt.
11. At the "ok" prompt, you type: set console="comconsole".  This will allow the boot message output to go to the serial console.  You can al type "show" to display other setting.  TRhe, type "boot" to continue to boot.
12. You should a lot of messages on the serial console but you will not see a "login" prompt because the Login (getty) process is not running on the serial.
13. Scroll up to see the IP address obtained during bu DHCP.  From another compuer, connect to http://.  Login as: admin/freenas
14. Go to System -> Advanced -> File Editor and loaded the /etc/ttys file.  Find the line containing ttyd0. Change it from:
    
    ttyd0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   dialup  off secure
    
    to
    
    ttyd0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   vt100   on secure
15.  Then go to System -> Advanced -> Command and type in "kill -HUP 1" and click on Execute to get the login prompt on the Serial port.
16. Login as root/freenas
17. Type: /bin/sh /etc/rc.initial to get the Menu to set IP and install the OS on the IDE drive.
18. At the prompt, select 9 -> Install on HD/USB.  Then select 3 -> Install Full OS and follow the prompt to select the 128 MB IDE drive as the system drive.  I prefer the Full against the Embedded version as the configuration changes are preserved on reboot.
19. Reboot, unplug the external USB CDROM, modify the BIOS to boot from the IDE DOM (Disk On Module) drive.  Follow steps 10 thru 17 again.
20. Modify the file /boot/loader.conf to add the following line:  console="comconsole"
21. Connect to the FreeNAS web interface and enable SSH.
22. To setup ZFS, I followed the following video: Preview of ZFS on FreeNAS 0.7 Server

More to follow on NFS, iSCSI, CIFS setup on the SS4200.

Home NAS Part 2: Harware

I have decided to separate my HTPC and NAS. I decided to go for a low cost, low power NAS solution. Possible options I considered:

• DroboPro with iSCSI
• Pros: 8 disk bays, iSCSI, ability add to different drive sizes
• Cons: $$$ Locked-in, Expensive for barebones box: $1500

•  QNAP TS-419
• Pros: 4 disk bay, iSCSI, exapandability, NAS, CIFS, TimeMachine,etc
• Cons: $$ Locked-in, Expensive for barebones box: $600
  

• Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d
• Pros: Disks included, iSCSI, Time Machine support
• Cons: $$ Cannot install larger drives, Expensive for barebones box: $899
• DIY box:
• Pros: Flexibility, FreeNAS, ZFS for snapshots.
• Cons:  Cheaper but limitations based on supported hardware.  $800+
  

After a long analysis for a few months, here is hardware I came up with: Intel SS-4200 with 4 SATA, 512 MB memory. I am planning to install FreeNAS on it as it has ZFS support.  ZFS has advantages of snapshots, growth, iSCSI, etc.  Plus, it was important to get a low cost, low power consumption machine as it would be running all the time.  The SS-4200 has 4 disk bay, low power Celeron, onboard 120 MB DOM (Disk On Module), 1 Gb NIC, USB and eSATA ports for expansion.

Here is the part list:

Component	Quantity	Price	Total
Intel SS-4200:  Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E NAS Server w/ Intel Celeron 420 1.6GHz, DDR2 512MB & eSATA support	1	149.00	149.00
Samsung 5400 RPM 1 TB SATA drive (low power)	4	79.99	319.96
Serial Cable 9-pin Serial to 10-pin Header Slot Plate with Low Profile Bracket	1	4.99	4.99
Total			473.95

Home NAS Part 1: Planning

I have decided to build a home NAS server after my external USB drive attached to my iMac has started to die. Here are the features I am looking for:

• Low cost hardware
• Low power consumption
  
• Open Source
• CIFS/NFS access so that the data can be accessed by windows and mac
• 1G NIC so that I can attach to my Airport express router
• RAID protection
• Media serving capability to TV, etc

More to come after I narrow down my selection......