HI,
Ubuntu has a server version, Debian based so it fits in the flow of knowledge. Works quite well.

Mike

I personally use SME Server (formerly E-Smith) it is base on RedHat CentOS 4.3 so it is enterprise level. It is extremely stable, can be used as a simple file server or as a server & gateway (router).

I use one at home and now have one located in our office. It is a single CD install and after installing all configuration is done via a web browser. It has samba installed by default, just a matter of setting up the shares and permissions, again all through the web browser. It includes Apache (Web), Horde (Email), Clam (AntiVirus), Spam Assassin (SPAM filter) amongst many others.

I could not recommend it more, although I appreciate that this may be overkill for some people. Check there website to see if it fits your needs.

http://www.smeserver.org/

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Girkers

I use a straight KnoppMyth install. Configure the Webmin root password
Use Webmin to start Samba. Use Webmin to create shares.

Since my KnoppMyth box runs all of the time I use it as much as possible. I do not have huge performance goals because if it can stream a tv show to my Windows box it is good enough. I bought the 3ware card because at the time I built the box motherboards did not come with 8+ PATA ports and 200GB hard drives had the best price/GB.

I have had this hardware running for years and have been happy since KnoppMyth R4A5.

Mark

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Athalon XP 2600
512MB RAM
ATI 9000
Sony DVD Burner
3ware 7506-8
1 Segate 200GB Knoppmyth
6 Segate 200GB Raid-5 (1TB!)

I looked at that previously, and could have sworn it wasn't free. Anyways, what's the difference between the regular and SRPMS versions?

_________________
KM R5E50; K8NGM2; A64-3800+; 1024MB PC3200; LG DVD-RW; Seagate 750GB; 6600 PCI-E; Onboard sound; Hauppauge PVR-150

If you're going to all the trouble of installing raid5 this means you are concerned about keeping your data available in case of hardware failure. (maybe you are trying to avoid having to backup you're videos as well but if they get corrupted or deleted raid5 won't help)

Since it sounds like you want high availability of your media you should choose a very stable OS without all the bells and whistles.

Not knoppmyth (based on sid (unstable))

I would recommend net install of debian sarge.

Or probably better in your situation SATA RAID5 i would use etch (testing) http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Etch with debian installer installs into raid5/lvm2. If you want to get fancy, you could try an EVMS install with RC2 coming out soon i think. It will allow you to use a gui to do snapshots of LVM2 on RAID5 or perhaps RAID10 on SATA.

My idea was an ultra stable, redundant, high capacity, expandable (maybe with eSATA boxes) always on media-server (fileserver) holding the /myth directory connected with gig ethernet to a separate unstable box the knoppmyth (unstable) master-backend holding all the HD capture cards.

The media-server also holds music,photos,dvds, and backup directories of all my machines and connects to everything with samba and nfs.

The slim mythfrontends could just wake up and connect as needed through the master-backend.

The point is to be able to retain access to your media during upgrades and inevitable crashes reboots maintenance ect of mythtvmaster.

I've been doing this all along with a 233 MHZ pentium software raid5 $50 computer with 5 PATA drives cramed in running sarge. Speed is fine for mpeg2 standard def and xvid. /myth/* is nfs mounted from media-server to the master. Never moved /myth/tv there because not enough storage capicity for HD.

I like the concept of moving /myth/tv However, expandibility seems tricky.

Need to upgrade my old box to get SATA support and gigE i think before i move /myth/tv there.

Sorry for rambling. Just some more ideas.

All versions are free, the current is 7.1, the SRPMS are the source RPMs.

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Girkers

Well, I tried both FreeNAS and SMEServer and here are my results.

FreeNAS recognized my raid and installed fine. I tried copying some files over and it crapped out on me. Something about too long a path. I think it was 'cause the file names were too long. However, while it was copying, the cpu was at 60-70%, which seems odd.

SMEServer looked like it might have worked, however, I can't seem to get it to see and share the raid array.

I think I'm gonna have to stick with a full blown distro, since I want to load a couple programs on it to take the load off my desktop. I tried Fedora, but the dvd I downloaded errored out when I went to burn it.

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KM R5E50; K8NGM2; A64-3800+; 1024MB PC3200; LG DVD-RW; Seagate 750GB; 6600 PCI-E; Onboard sound; Hauppauge PVR-150

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

they have support for a ton of hardware. you can choose fileserver as an option that will start out with all the important packages for a fileserver.

File systems for a file server don't really matter, unless you have a 1Gb network. A regular 10/100Mb network will give you "only" 10M/s at the best, way slower than any hard drive nowadays. But still fast enough to get your data quickly from the server to your MythTV box.

I assume you mean that a 10/100Mbit network will only give you 10MBytes/s max.

As I've had 80Mbits/s sustained transfer over 10/100 quite happily.

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Mephi
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R5.5
Opteron 2.Ghz
1Gb Ram, 200Gb Maxtor PATA
Avermedia 771 DVB-T
Hauppauge Nova-S2 (waiting to be installed)
MS MCE2 Remote