[SOLVED] Can I run an os from a NAS drive ? If yes, what is the process?

[ripe_mango]

I want to run os from my nas drive in any computer or vm. Say my laptop/pc doesn't have a hdd or ssd but have every other component. Can use my nas drive as a remote hdd for booting and running any os in my diskless pc/laptop ? I saw there are ways via PXE. But I didn't find a decent tutorial.

 

[SamirD]

Yes via iscsi. You can set up an iscsi volume on your nas that your system can connect to via pxe. But you will probably still need some sort of boot cd or what not since most nics do not support iscsi natively. Do some searches and you can read more about it. It's definitely very possible and I've considered it myself.

 

[USAFRet]

I've run a VM from my QNAP NAS. It has that functionality built in.

It works, but it is pretty slow.

 

[ripe_mango]

Yes via iscsi. You can set up an iscsi volume on your nas that your system can connect to via pxe. But you will probably still need some sort of boot cd or what not since most nics do not support iscsi natively. Do some searches and you can read more about it. It's definitely very possible and I've considered it myself.

Well, The thing is, OS will be installed in a remote HDD which I will access via any computer. I didn't find any tutorial to do it.

 

[ripe_mango]

I've run a VM from my QNAP NAS. It has that functionality built in.

It works, but it is pretty slow.

I'm not trying to build VM. I'm trying to use a remote hdd as a boot drive for an os.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not trying to build VM. I'm trying to use a remote hdd as a boot drive for an os.

And your laptop would be considered a 'thin client', and the server provides the OS.

Can it be done? Yes.
But it can have significant performance drawbacks, which are overlooked and accepted for all the other things a thin client environment provides.
Such as...centralized admin for 50 thin clients, on a single large server.

In the context of a single laptop that only lacks a HDD or SSD...not even remotely useful.
It still needs CPU/RAM/motherboard, etc.

 

[ripe_mango]

And your laptop would be considered a 'thin client', and the server provides the OS.

Can it be done? Yes.
But it can have significant performance drawbacks, which are overlooked and accepted for all the other things a thin client environment provides.
Such as...centralized admin for 50 thin clients, on a single large server.

In the context of a single laptop that only lacks a HDD or SSD...not even remotely useful.
It still needs CPU/RAM/motherboard, etc.

I have mobo and ram and other stuff. I want an on the go remote HDD with OS which I can use on any computer. Instead of using SATA or USB i want to connect that drive through the nic.

 

[USAFRet]

I have mobo and ram and other stuff. I want an on the go remote HDD with OS which I can use on any computer. Instead of using SATA or USB i want to connect that drive through the nic.

This is sooooo not that easy.

 

[ripe_mango]

This is sooooo not that easy.

That is why I'm looking for a tutorial.

 

[USAFRet]

That is why I'm looking for a tutorial.

Much details needed.

What specific OS?
What will you use this for?
How many systems at once?
What type of client systems?
What is the host system?
What connection? Internal LAN or over the interwebs?

 

[SamirD]

That is why I'm looking for a tutorial.

A search for 'pxe iscsi boot' brings up several--you need to read every single one on the first two pages to grasp the basic concepts. Then look at these two:
http://mistyrebootfiles.altervista.org/documents/TinyPXEServer/files/iscsi.htm

iPXE - open source boot firmware [howto:wds_iscsi]

ipxe.org

 

[hang-the-9]

I want to run os from my nas drive in any computer or vm. Say my laptop/pc doesn't have a hdd or ssd but have every other component. Can use my nas drive as a remote hdd for booting and running any os in my diskless pc/laptop ? I saw there are ways via PXE. But I didn't find a decent tutorial.

First you will need a server computer that does have a drive, setup with an operating system for running a thin client computer, called a terminal server. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client Once you set that up you can then use a system to connect to that, but I don't think you can do this without some type of local storage on the host. We use systems with 32 gb drives so don't need much.

You need two Windows licenses, for the computer running the terminal server and the computer that is connecting.

For home use especially since you don't know how this is setup or how complex it is to setup or the cost of it, you are better of just using a local disk with the OS installed on it.