Hello,
I ‘am thinking of installing Amahi but I’ am not sure if it can do certain things, and I wanted to be very sure.
Also I was not sure where to post this topic.
I wanted to create a NAS server which act almost as a personal cloud server, in which when I am away or friends and family can login to my server and stream video, pictures or music via their own web browser or even if they have access permission to download the file.
Amahi can provide access for file downloads via VPN or through some web apps, such as OpenVPN ALS (clientless VPN).
http://www.amahi.org/apps/openvpn-als
What you are asking for from Amahi is possible, but much of it would require you to manually install/configure to meet your requirements.
Also if it's also able to do some of the following:
1) RAID5 on 8 3TB HDD, as a software raid (and also is there concerns like hardware raid where server or enterprise HDD's must be used?) (no pooling) (need redundancy its a big must)(Also Email if RAID failure or HDD failure)
RAID is possible, but not needed with Greyhole. It provides storage pooling and file redundency if you choose to use it. You can disable it, however why would you want to mess with RAID with a simpler solution in my opinion. There are tutorials in the wiki that detail how to set up email for drive errors/failure.
2) provide individual login's with certain restriction and grouping of restriction level's (like certain groups can access certain files)
You can have individual login for users, however the restrictions are limited to whether they are an admin and read/write access of shares.
3) Play MP3, FLAC, MKV, MKV HI10P, AVI, DVIX, XVID, MP4, AAC codecs
There are web apps that allow you to stream music and video from the HDA. Some are web based and others use client devices. Apps such as DLNA, MediaTomb, Ampache, etc could potentially meet those needs.
4) Work with Highpoint Raid Cards (they have drivers for Linux OS but not sure on how it would be installed)
Don't know the answer. You would have to check Fedora 14 driver support.
5) Also for the future the possibility of installing 10Gbps or Fibre network (when it gets cheaper probably in the far future

)
Don't see how this will affect the OS and Amahi. A connection is a connection in my opinion.
6) An IP log of which login accessed from which IP (or maybe country)
There are logs which will reflect activity on the HDA, to include IPs that access via VPN login.
7) Something similar to Peerblock or Peerguardian and the ability to download IP block lists from URL and update them automatically.
This is something that you would have to install manually and configure. Not sure of support for Fedora 14.
8) I know about the VPN but would the openVPN Client on Amahi connect to a openVPN service like IAPS or Strongvpn?
Not sure, but I would imagine it is possible. Most use software installed on their client.
9) Bandwidth Restriction over the internet (eg: if my mom want to download my birthday video, she will be restricted at 200Kbps download speed, so then I can still watch my video or listen to music)
Not possible unless you install and configure software to handle this requirement. Load balancing and bandwidth restriction is not part of Fedora 14 or Amahi by default.
10) Ability to run Multiple users to access and stream media over Ethernet and internet at the same time (eg I am streaming a video on my XBOX, parents watching another video on the DLNA on the TV, and three of my friends are watching videos over the internet via their browser (or software form the Amahi). (Also what computing power should I get would an atom processor, would that be powerful enough or would I have to go better, opinions needed)
I cannot honestly say one way or the other. I would think this is dependent on your hardware and network infrastructure. I know that users do multitask their HDA, but cannot comment to what extent or how it performs.
11) Ability for multiple access or streaming of the same file (eg: same video being played at the same time by three other people)
Have not tried it, so cannot confirm or deny if this will work.
12) Ability to work with APCs incase of power failures.
Yes Fedora 14 does support APC backups. We also have a two web apps in Amahi to provide status of the unit.
If all these can be accomplished. Then this will make this the perfect NAS server for me.
I hope to hear all your comments.
Thanks
Mo
As I stated early, most of your requirements can be easily accommodated I would think. However, many of them will require install and configuration on your part. Keep in mind that Amahi is designed to be a basic home server, therefore designed for the average home user. Many would not even understand load balancing or bandwidth restrictions let alone IP blocking and RAID.
Since much of how Amahi evolves is widely based on user community contributions, maybe you could assist by adding guidance to the wiki for solutions you adopt to achieve your perfect home server.
I hope this helps and we would be pleased if you chose Amahi.