EasyNAS

EasyNAS is yet another open source Linux distribution that allows users to easily and quickly deploy a capable and full featured Network-attached storage server with much hassle. It is based on the well known openSUSE operating system and built with the SUSE Studio Linux image creation tool.

Key features include support for RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), filesystem compression, online filesystem check, copy on write, snapshots, online balancing of data between disk drives, as well as online increasing and decreasing of the filesystem.

Availability, supported platforms and boot options

The distribution is available for download as ISO images that can be deployed to USB flash drives or written on CD discs, as well as RAW images. Both 32- and 64-bit architectures are supported at this time.

From the boot prompt, users can install the operating system on a local disk drive using the default options or the failsafe mode, as well as to start an existing OS that is installed on the first disk.

Modern, web-based administration console

You will be able to manage your EasyNAS system in style, thanks to its web-based and beautifully designed administration interface, which comprises of four main categories, System, Storage, Users/Groups, and Network Services.

While from the System category you can view the actual status of your NAS sever, modify general and network settings, update firmware and administer power management features, from the Storage category you can manage file systems, volumes, and disks.

New users and groups can be easily created from within the Users/Groups category, which also lets you to manage various security and privacy features. Lastly, the SSH, NFS, Samba and Web servers can be easily configured from the Network Services category.

Bottom line

Summing up, EasyNAS is a very good storage management system that can be deployed for personal use at home, or in a small office with up to 10-15 employees. Thanks to the powerful Btrfs filesystem, it provides users with improved stability over commercial NAS products.