Hammer Storage, a division of Bell Microproducts, used embedded Linux as the software platform in its flagship consumer network-attached storage (NAS) device. The “MyShare” NAS appliance runs Linux on an ARM9-based Marvell processor, and has two internal SATA II drives, for capacities up to 2 terabytes.

The MyShare NAS server targets the consumer and SOHO (small office / home office) markets. The device was designed “to foster the sharing of music, movies, photos and data,” according to product manager Andy Dorian; however, the firmware update that is expected to enable the device to act as a UPnP or iTunes server is not expected until July of 2007.

Hammer MyShare
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Meanwhile, MyShare supports up to 25 users in small office settings, the company said, via FTP, Samba (Windows), and NFS (Linux) network file sharing protocols. Disks can be configured in RAID 0, RAID 1, or JBOD, and the device can also work as a network server for attached USB printers.

What's under the hood?

The MyShare is based on a Marvell Orion 88F5182 “Media Vault” processor, a storage-oriented SoC (system-on-chip) built around an ARM9 core clocked at 500MHz. The device has 64MB of RAM, and 16MB of flash memory.

MyShare's I/O ports
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The MyShare's I/O connections include a pair of high-speed (480Mbps) USB 2.0 ports, and a gigabit Ethernet port.

On the software side, MyShare is based on a 2.6.12-6 kernel. The device appears to store its embedded operating system in flash, but on first boot it unpacks it and writes the root file system into the hard drive for subsequent faster startups.

Additionally, the device can boot from USB, in case of a failed firmware upgrade, Dorian said.

The company chose Linux because it passed stringent quality testing, offered a rich feature set, and was very cost effective, Dorian said.

Availability

The MyShare device is widely available now, in capacities from 500MB to 2TB.

Hammer is the storage products division of Bell Microproducts, a large wholesale computer parts distributor. In addition to the MyShare, Hammer offers “Pocket Hammer” portable backup devices and “Z-Rack” rackmounted NAS servers.

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