{"id":35,"date":"2004-10-10T22:24:00","date_gmt":"2004-10-10T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwilson.me.uk\/blog\/2004\/10\/probably-smallest-server-in-world.htm"},"modified":"2007-05-15T13:45:41","modified_gmt":"2007-05-15T12:45:41","slug":"probably-smallest-server-in-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2004\/10\/probably-smallest-server-in-world.htm","title":{"rendered":"(Probably) the smallest server in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This weekend, I set up my new network attached storage (NAS) unit, which may well qualify as one of the world’s smallest (and least expensive) servers. It’s a Linksys Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives (NSLU2), coupled with one of my ultra-portable external storage devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NSLU2 is a low-cost device for converting any USB storage into NAS. It is basically a tiny Linux server with an 10\/100 Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 connections (mine cost \u00c2\u00a359.99 from Amazon<\/a>). What’s more, it seems to have developed quite a following with those who are hacking the device to make it a more useful Linux server.<\/p>\n

The NSLU2 gets slated in a CNET review<\/a>, but basically you get what you pay for and for this price I’m not sure that you can really go wrong. It seemed to me that most of the CNET feedback was from consumers (with limited technical knowledge) who expected to connect their FAT or NTFS-formatted USB disks and access them across the network. The NSLU2 won’t let you do that as it uses the Linux ext3 file system, but once formatted on the NSLU2 they should still be readable on a Windows system with an appropriate file system driver.<\/p>\n

Having said that, Linksys do not help themselves and much of the negative feedback will be down to the terrible documentation supplied with the product. I needed to carry out some Internet research before I could get mine working using two important pieces of information:<\/p>\n