Amahi or NAS

[Abbas]

I found a link about Amahi from a post ovr at Engadget. I was thinking about getting a QNAP 109 NAS but then started looking into Amahi and not sure which way to go. Have a few questions and would appreciate some answers

1) Amahi recommends using it as a DHCP Server instead of Router. How do Wireless machines connect? Wont they have to go through a router?

2) I dont quite understand the Domain concept- I've used Windows and I have a WORKGROUP that is the Network. I thought Domains were for offices. Also, my notebook travels between the Home and Office- will it create an issue?

3) My main intention is to setup a box that will be a downloading machine- mostly bit torrent. I figured I can ditch my Windows XP machine and use a NAS like QNAP mentioned above a it will save space and maybe cut down my electric bills by a bit. Why should I use Amahi instead?

Thanks

[relrobber]

1) w/ Amahi, you don't ditch your router. u just turn off the DHCP server function, and let Amahi handle that part.

2) in VERY general terms, you can think of the domain as your workgroup. when you type an internet address (i.e. www.example.com) the ".com" part is the domain. similarly, if your home domain (or workgroup) is named 'mydomain', your computer (host) would be 'host.mydomain'. as far as your laptop is concerned, i don't think it would cause any problems.

3) it basically comes down to your priorities. if your main priority is cost, definately Amahi. a NAS is going to come w/ commercial support, and will likely take up less space, whereas Amahi comes with community support, and must be installed on one of your machines (i.e. you could install it on an unused PC [current XP box, maybe]). w/ a NAS, you can probably set it and forget it, whereas, w/ Amahi there is a chance that u might have to get your hands dirty. in all, Amahi is excellent at what it does, but is still a work in progress, whereas a commercial product will be a *finished* product.

[cpg]

relrobber puts it well.

1) Amahi recommends using it as a DHCP Server instead of Router. How do Wireless machines connect? Wont they have to go through a router?

works fine. they just go via wifi, to the router, which then goes via the router, to the server and back

Code: Select all

V . . . wifi . . . . (wifi) clients | -----DSL/CABLE-------[modem]----------[router]---------local-wired-net-------- rest of clients

2) I dont quite understand the Domain concept- I've used Windows and I have a WORKGROUP that is the Network. I thought Domains were for offices. Also, my notebook travels between the Home and Office- will it create an issue?

this is mostly geek cred. you don't get to type ip addresses any more
you can just ping, ssh, or see machines in the network by their dns name.
(also, a given machine with ip, say, 144, can be addressed as h144.
simple, no need to type ip addresses.

3) My main intention is to setup a box that will be a downloading machine- mostly bit torrent. I figured I can ditch my Windows XP machine and use a NAS like QNAP mentioned above a it will save space and maybe cut down my electric bills by a bit. Why should I use Amahi instead?

i recommend amahi. but then i am biased.

i like the new WD "green" disks. they run low on temperature and power.

[moredruid]

the NAS is very nice, it's a one-stop solution. The problem with these kinds of solutions is that you don't have a lot of flexibility, and high up-front cost.
Lemme explain:
NAS solution
you buy a 2TB NAS at premium price ($350 for the cheapest good solution?). It's nice and compact and doesn't take a lot of power. You connect it to your network and run for about a year until it is full. Now you need to buy a new NAS, maybe then it'll be 4TB NAS, again at premium price, but let's say you're budgeting yourself with a max of $250. Another device in your network and on your desk, and in a years' time you'll need another one. Suddenly you have 3 devices each running 45 Watts continuously.
You spent about $600 on 6TB in 2 years. Following that line, in 3 years you'd have spent around $900. Functionality is limited to what the suppliers offer you.

Amahi solution
you buy a budget system with 1TB storage ($300 if you shop around smart, I recently built mine with Pentium E2200 dual core, 2GB memory and 750GB disk for about $250, I had a spare case & PSU lying around). you will have more CPU and memory in that box for that money than in the NAS. You connect it to your network and run for about half a year until the disks are full. You add a 2nd 2TB disk for medium/low cost (say $100) because you don't need to have the high up front cost of planning ahead (you did that during the build of the budget system ), you can expand as needed. Now let's say that 3TB is full within 2 years, and you add another 3TB disk (again for medium/low cost, $100). Same device in your network and on your desk, and if you need more you'll just add another disk for medium/low cost every time. Your budget server runs at 60 Watts continuously (even less with a low power chip, adding a disk will add about 8 Watts mean power draw).
You spent about $500 for 6TB in 2 years. In 3 years maybe around $650. That saves you about $100 in 2 years, $250 in 3 (maybe even more, depends on how much disk space you'll need in the future). Easy access functionality is limited to what Amahi offers you. If you want more, and can figure it out yourself, you can add a whole lot more functionality to the server (like running a LAN Quake server, FTP server, proxy server, etc... you have enough CPU/mem to run all that). Maybe you can even participate in the Amahi project

Sorry for the long story, but I needed to make a few points clear

[Abbas]

Thanks Guys- I think you have convinced me to try Amahi-

I have the MSI Axis 690 for which I'm planning on buying a low cost AMD X2 CPU and 1GB DDR2. I also have a 1.5TB Seagate drive.

Now, regarding Torrents, is there anything that can unrar torrents after they're completed? Also, is it possible to have a "watch" directory where torrent files are placed for the software to pick things up from?

@

[cpg]

Thanks Guys- I think you have convinced me to try Amahi-

hehe, cool

good job moredruid

I have the MSI Axis 690 for which I'm planning on buying a low cost AMD X2 CPU and 1GB DDR2. I also have a 1.5TB Seagate drive.

watch out for those 1.5TB seagate disk warnings!

Now, regarding Torrents, is there anything that can unrar torrents after they're completed? Also, is it possible to have a "watch" directory where torrent files are placed for the software to pick things up from?

after you install, http://torrents should be up and running (it's not well advertised, sorry).

[moredruid]

cpg, is amahi using the torrentlfux fork from b4-rt?
this has unzip/unrar functionality built-in

[cpg]

cpg, is amahi using the torrentlfux fork from b4-rt?
this has unzip/unrar functionality built-in

no, it's not. however, in the new online installer this should go away and it should be easier to get anything you want in.

after last week's musical chairs with moving servers, we should start testing this thursday, friday and through the weekend.

we'll send announcement of beta releases to amahi-devel and here in the forums in the development section.