Hello everybody, I have just registered here because I am planning a project where I think FreeBSD could be the ideal OS.

I am currently running a dual boot system with Arch Linux and Windows 10. Both systems have FDE, Linux with LUKS (LVM) and Windows with Bitlocker, so data can not be easily moved between them.
Currently, all important data is stored inside the Linux partition which is backed up every week to an (LUKS) encrypted hdd.

Now I would like to buy/build a server for storage and a few other services (CUPS, DLNA, etc)

My requirements are:
1) The data partition or even the whole system must be encrypted (I don't need ZFS features so I was thinking about UFS2 and GELI).

It would however be nice if the server could be just powered on (maybe even over ethernet) without entering a passphrase. So maybe not encrypting the base system would be best. I do not want to use USB memories to store the system or an encryption key.

2) CUPS, DLNA and other services should run inside a jail and should never be able to access data outside of their specified directories.

3) Must be accessible from Windows and Linux (I am using mostly Linux and Windows is only used for very special software and web services that require Edge to register)

So what are your ideas on how to start with this project?
 
So what are your ideas on how to start with this project?

Welcome to FreeBSD and this forum! To start your project I would say you should start reading the various discussion ports on here, and the FreeBSD handbook. Then pick the ports you think will work best for you. I don't do encryption because I'm afraid of somehow losing or corrupting the key and then data is gone for every. I use multimedia/plexmediaserver and net/minidlna for my media needs. For files I'm simply using FTP server which is built in. I'm not doing Samba, and other stuff yet. So far so good.
 
PacketMan
Thanks for advice. I have been trying a few setups with minidlna. It's working fairly well with my Android phone but it refuses to play about 80% of all movies on my Sharp 4K TV. I guess the reason for that is the missing encoding feature. Well, that's OK. I don't want to build the server with hardware capable of encoding HD or even 4K streams on the fly anyways. It is supposed to be a file/backup server - and I see it as a nice feature if it also can stream music to other devices.
Regarding the file server, I am still evaluating things but I think I will go for Samba (no need for netatalk since there is no Apple device anywhere close to me) and FTP (for xchanging files with Android).
 
Also consider net-p2p/btsync. I use on my servers and on my Android devices. It supports different modes so pay attention; a simple delete can delete anywhere and everywhere. Two of my three servers are offsite and do TAR dumps to an network attached drive so even if I screw up or the house burns down I got at least one copy somewhere else.
 
Hello everybody, I have just registered here because I am planning a project where I think FreeBSD could be the ideal OS.

I am currently running a dual boot system with Arch Linux and Windows 10. Both systems have FDE, Linux with LUKS (LVM) and Windows with Bitlocker, so data can not be easily moved between them.
Currently, all important data is stored inside the Linux partition which is backed up every week to an (LUKS) encrypted hdd.

Now I would like to buy/build a server for storage and a few other services (CUPS, DLNA, etc)

So what are your ideas on how to start with this project?

Personally, I'd suggest building a FreeNAS server
 
Personally, I'd suggest building a FreeNAS server

That's the easier way out, and is perfectly fine if all you want is a working NAS. However for me it started out as wanting (a) a working NAS and (b) to know a BSD based unix like OS better. Regretfully I haven't had the time I had hope to learn FreeBSD, but my time so far has been well rewarding. I've done so much more than just make a NAS and frankly saved a bunch of money in the process too.
 
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