This is a very easy instructable.
It shows how to build, install and configure your own and secret Server - System.

It is cheap
It is easy
It is secret
It is steampunk

The idea behind this server was to hide it in a bokk or something similar.
The basic system is a thin client wich can be obtained for less than 25.- EUR. These cleints have very low power consumtion and most of them will have a CF - Slot.
CF - Card became less expensive in the last month and you can buy one with a capacity up to 64 GByte for a moderate price.

UPDATE

After some days off using the server I measured more than 40 degrees C during heavy load.
So I decided to drill additional holes in the top and bottom. Now there is enough airflow to keep the server cool.

With kind regards,

Horatius

Step 1: Materials

You need:

For the NAS - Server:

1 book safe or similar housing
1 thin client e.g. FUTRO A250 (20.- EUR) with power supply
1 CF 32GByte KomputerBay (32.- EUR)
1 CD with NAS4FREE

For the installation:

1 USB CD or DVD drive for installation
1 Keyboard
1 TFT Monitor

Step 2: Hardware Installation

Disassemble the thin client and fit it into the book safe as shown on the pictures.
Slide the CF into the CF slot.

Attach CD - drive, the TFT and the keyboard.
Attach Power and Network.

Step 3: Installation of Software

Download the ISO file and burn it to a CD.
Boot from CD and after a while you will see the main menu.
Choose install >> 9
Choose embedded installation with data partition. This will gives you space on the CF to use for the WWW server and for storing data.
If you have 512MByte and / or more RAM you can skip the swap partition. This gives you more space for data.

After the installation is completed, reboot the server.

Step 4: Configuring the Network

The NAS4free system will choose the first network interface automatically.
For the first configuration steps, it is a good idea to use DHCP for the installation process.
Skip IPv6 if you don´t need it.
After the configuration has finished it will display the IP address obtained from the DHCP - Server.

Step 5: Configure the NAS - System

Type the give IP address into the browsers address field.
Login with:

User: admin
PWD: nas4free

The server will show the main page.

Now we have to add and mount the CF.
From the Disk menu choose management and add the CF as a disk.
Make sure, you choose UFS as the pre formatted file system.

Now we have to configure the mount point.
Choose mount from the disk menu and define a mount point. Here I have chosen "data" as the mount point.
Make sure that you use the right parameter like partition number, file system and partition type.

Creating directories
From the advanced menu choose file manager
Navigate to the mount point you created and create two directories:

wwwroot
share

So the pr configuration is done. Let´s configure the WEB Service, FTP and the access for WINDOWS user.

Step 6: Configuring the Services Webserver and Ftp

To enable the WWW service to be active on port 80 we have to reconfigure the access pot for the admin GUI.
Let´s set it to 8080.
Reboot the server and now it must be accessed via the port 8080.

Example:

192.168.178.24:8080

Login again.

Now activate and configure the webserver like the picture below.
Activate FTP server.
Create an user upload and assign a password. Point the home directory to wwwroot.
Assign groups admin, ftp, www

Step 7: Configure Service Samba (WINDOWS Share)

Activate SMB services and configure as shown in the pictures below.
Add a share as shown in the picture below.
Add a user to access the share.
I used a user without password.
you can provide a password if you like.

Step 8: Upload an Access the First HTML Page.

Use a ftp client to upload some HTML sites.
Type the IP address of your new server into the address field.
The page must be displayed.
Now try to access the SMB (WINDOWS) share.

OK? Yes? Congratulations you now have a secret server.......

If there are any questions, please ask.

Horatius Steam