hello all,

I'm going to set up a NAS that will run in RAID 1 mode. At the same time I will probably dismiss the two old Windows computers where SETI@home actually runs.

This is the NAS that I would buy (TS-431P):

https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/model.php?II=259

It runs an operating system called QTS 4.2 (embedded Linux). The NAS has 1 GB of memory (it seems that memory is not upgradeable) and it will be used not only for archiving and backup purposes, but also as a multimedia storage. The layout will be:

- 2 x 6 TB RAID 1 exclusively for multimedia
- 2 x 2 TB RAID 1 for archiving and backup purposes

I was wondering if it would be possible to run SETI@home (Linux version) on this device because I don't want to dismiss SETI@home; after all I'm computing since 1999. I would eventually reserve a small partition on the 2 x 2 TB disk.

But I have the following doubts (keep in mind that I don't know absolutely anything about Linux):

1. Is SETI@home (Linux version) compatible with this kind of devices? Will I be able to install and run it? Is this QTS operating system 32 or 64 bit?

2. Will SETI@home computation negatively affect multimedia activities? The movie to play will only be transferred to the player via Ethernet, I will not use the NAS for this. In other words, the NAS will be used by the home player as if it would simply be another sharing on the LAN, exactly like a partition on another computer. Will be the transfer speed of the movie file via LAN negatively affected? I think not, but I'm not sure (my home LAN is Gigabit)

3. What is the best method to dismiss SETI@home from the old Windows computers? Finish all the pending units without requesting more? Is it possible to do so?

Thank you to all the kind people that will help me in this task.

Greetings
Salvatore Besso
Italy

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1 It is very unlikely that you will be able to run BOINC & thus SETI@Home on the NAS. The version on Linux on them is tailored to the task in hand - serving files, not running applications.
2 Attempting to run BOINC & SETI@Home would have a very serious adverse impact on the preformance of multi-media on the NAS server.
3 The most friendly way to "dismiss" a computer is to set "No New Tasks" an let it complete the tasks in hand then turn it off for good. Otherwise, just turn it off and leave it off...

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

1 It is very unlikely that you will be able to run BOINC & thus SETI@Home on the NAS. The version on Linux on them is tailored to the task in hand - serving files, not running applications.
2 Attempting to run BOINC & SETI@Home would have a very serious adverse impact on the preformance of multi-media on the NAS server.
3 The most friendly way to "dismiss" a computer is to set "No New Tasks" an let it complete the tasks in hand then turn it off for good. Otherwise, just turn it off and leave it off...

thank you for the reply Bob.

Replying to point 1, there are lot of applications to install and run on the product's APP Center page that go from backup applications to syncing applications, antivirus, download, entertainment, even developer tools, etc.

https://www.qnap.com/en-us/app_center/?II=259

Regarding point 2: I have noticed that when the computer's CPU is too busy doing something, SETI@Home is paused. I suppose that the Linux version will do the same.

Maybe the best thing to do is to give SETI@Home a try. What do you think about?

Greetings
Salvatore

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If you could install BOINC and attach it to the SETI@Home project, the ARM Linux app should work on this device.