Use OpenMediaVault
to Run Your NAS
1
INSTALL OMV
Fetch the latest OMV ISO from http://www.openmediavault.org/
download.html, and write it to a USB stick using a tool
such as Etcher (available for Windows, Linux, and macOS at
https://etcher.io). Reboot and try to convince your firmware
to boot this freshly etched medium. You need to disable secure
boot, because Debian Linux (upon which OMV is based) doesn’t
believe in it. Also, before we go any further, be aware that the
target drive will be totally wiped. There’s no provision for
installing alongside other partitions, so using a large drive for
OMV itself is a bit of a waste (it only requires around half a gig).
Any spare large storage you have should be summoned for duty
in your NAS box forthwith.
>> The installer is a spartan text-based affair, but is pretty
straightforward. Just follow the prompts and you’re guided
through localization and hostname setting. You’re prompted
for a root password (which you may end up only using once, or
never, but don’t forget it), then asked to choose a local mirror (for
updates), and specify a proxy (if required). Finally, the bootloader
is installed and you should be able to reboot into OMV.2
SET PASSWORD
Hopefully, OMV will boot up without error, and tell you to
visit the web control panel. Below this message you should
find your NAS’s IP address displayed. If it’s not (this sometimes
happens if DHCP takes too long), log in as root, and type “ip a”. OnIN OUR AUGUST ISSUE, we built a mini NAS box using mostly scavenged parts. We also skimmed
over setting up Volker Theile’s OpenMediaVault (OMV), a Debian-based Linux distro that takes
the pain out of configuring and maintaining such things. For the “Build It” feature, we didn’t
cover this software side of things in much depth, so in these two pages, we’ll tr y to remedy that.
Naturally, we assume you already have suitable hardware—basically any PC, but ideally
something with one or more large drives in it. We’ll cover setting up a RAID array, which will
cover you in case one (or more if you opt for extra redundancy) of your drives fail. Remember,
RAID doesn’t protect against fat-fingered deletions, or even subtle drive failures (where data
is silently corrupted or incorrectly read). The only salve there is regular backups. Fortunately,
these can be managed by OMV, too, and plugins can handle encrypting them and sending them
off site to cloud storage services. If you’re brave enough to make your NAS visible to the outside
world (not a decision you should take lightly, by the way), OMV also can also handle firewalling
via IPTables. –JONNY BIDWELLYOU’LL NEED THIS
OPENMEDIAVAULT
Download the latest ISO from
http://www.openmediavault.org/
download.html.another machine on your network, visit this address in a
web browser and log in with the username “admin” and
password “openmediavault.” The root password you
set earlier is only used for console logins, which you’ll
probably only need if something breaks. Until then,
behold the wonderful OMV interface [Image A]. From
here, you can set up in a few clicks what would take hours
of fiddling with awkward command-line syntax and text
editors that can’t be readily egressed in a regular Linux
distribution. The first thing you should do is change the
default password, though, even if you trust the people
using your network. It would be terrible if some malware
were able to hose all your data just because it knew the
default password. You’ll find this option in “General
Settings > Web Administrator Password.” If you choose
to make your NAS accessible from the whole Internet, a
strong password is essential.3
LOOK SMART
Modern hard drives are smart things. So smart,
they monitor their own health and keep track
of all kinds of vital signs. Anomalies in these SMART
(Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology)
attributes can be a sign of impending drive failure, so
if you keep an eye on them, you might just buy yourself
enough time to rehouse your data (or replace the failed
drive if it’s par t of an array), before it vanishes in a puf f ofBA©^OPENMEDI
AV
AULT64 MAXIMUMPC OCT 2019 maximumpc.com
R&D