NAS OS


Recommended Posts

Do any of you know of NAS-Like OS's? As FreeNAS, NAS4Free, etc?

 

According to this page: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=NAS

 

There seem to be several available.

 

FreeNAS and NAS4Free is based off of FreeBSD

OpenMediaVault is based off Debian

Rockstor is based off CentOS

EasyNAS is based off OpenSUSE

 

I personally prefer to stay with Debian. As that is my bread and butter...

 

Anyone know anything more as to this subject? I heard of where you can use like Ubuntu Server to set all this up. But everything is then manual.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What?

 

I use FreeNAS and find it simple to use.  Not familiar with OpenMediaVault ...

 

Anyway, not sure what you're asking?  Looking for a Debian solution?  Guess OpenMediaVault is your answer.  

 

Though it looks like this person posted steps on how to create a NAS box (with ZFS) utilizing Debian ...

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/how-to-create-a-nas-using-zfs-and-proxmox-with-pictures/117375

 

...but oh boy ... I'll stick with FreeNAS (maybe you could have fun with the above guide).  :)

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I forgot to say "which do you recommend?"

 

But anyway, yeah...

 

I don't Like FreeNAS only because of it's ZFS file system. I'm looking for an alternative, but unsure where to turn, as I never used these.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh dear GOD not Proxmox. :no: Anything but THAT madness. Way too heavy for a NAS.

 

FreeNAS seems okay. ZFS isn't an issue for me ... I've found it works fine and is a great alternative for ext4. FreeNAS as a whole is quite well-supported and is under continual refinement like Mint and Arch. You might end up liking it, give 'er a whirl. :yes: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said:

Oh dear GOD not Proxmox. :no: Anything but THAT madness. Way too heavy for a NAS.

Proxmox is a hypervisor, and sure not for everyone, the OP ask suggestion for "Debian based" and Jim K just posted tutorial based on Debian (Proxmox is plus)

and its not "heavy" ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Xahid said:

Proxmox is a hypervisor, and sure not for everyone, the OP ask suggestion for "Debian based" and Jim K just posted tutorial based on Debian (Proxmox is plus)

and its not "heavy" ...

Yes, I'm aware of all of the above. The "heavy" part, though -- debatable, I'll give you that. I've attempted to use Proxmox in the past for multi-seating as well as NAS use and it turned into a horror show of overcomplexity that I really didn't want to deal with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh wow. In looking up FreeNAS (to get current with it) people are running it as NAS in VM's (Virtualbox, VMWare, etc) instead of dedicated hardware ... interesting!

 

For VMWare

And VirtualBox.

 

Well then. :yes: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said:

Yes, I'm aware of all of the above. The "heavy" part, though -- debatable, I'll give you that. I've attempted to use Proxmox in the past for multi-seating as well as NAS use and it turned into a horror show of overcomplexity that I really didn't want to deal with.

I'm sorry, if you tried and it didn't work out for you, but Proxmox does not design for NAS (out of the box), its just based on Debian and you can take matters into your hand to utilize it as you want, I don't say its Proxmox fault.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

Yeah, I forgot to say "which do you recommend?"

 

But anyway, yeah...

 

I don't Like FreeNAS only because of it's ZFS file system. I'm looking for an alternative, but unsure where to turn, as I never used these.

out of interest, what is wrong with ZFS?

 

I also use FreeNAS... it's just so very easy to set up and manage.  Besides running Plex in a Jail, I don't use any other plugins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before you get hung up on the filesystem a specific nas distro might support or use as default, or even what linux/bsd the distro is based on..

 

Why don't you spell out what your looking for in the NAS to do exactly, and what hardware/VM your thinking of running it on with what sort of disks and amount, and what your wanting to store on it on this NAS.. And then we could actually discuss which one of the many different nas distro's out there would be best suited for your needs.

 

Do you have lots disks?  Do you just want to share out 1 disk - via what? SMB, NFS, AFS?  Web gui, sftp? webdav - how exactly do you want to access that the files you are going to store on this box..  Do you have any requirements for auth to who/what is going to access the shares?  Is it going to be tied to AD, or LDAP?  etc..  

 

Do you have multiple users that will need their own shares, do you just want an open share?  Do you have any need for quota's for users storage?  Are you disks of different types and speeds? usb, sata, hdd, ssd? etc. etc.  Are you ok with these different disk types being on their own - do you want them all in the same "pool" of shared storage, etc.

 

What OS the distro is based on and what file system specific it might have as default is like worry about steak sauce your going to use before sit down to dinner.. Maybe they have salmon on special - or maybe its a pizza place or sushi when you get there..  You should think about what steak sauce to use after you figure out your actually going to have steak - and its not a very good cut or cooked well, so actually needs steak sauce, etc.. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only reason I hate ZFS, that that it uses a LOT of RAM to run.

 

My C2D E2140 box, I think, only has 8GB total.

 

@Unobscured VisionI saw something like that in a Rockstor video.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its amazing how much urban myth and just plain FUD gets spread around... So your planning on running deduplication on your zfs pool?  If so then sure there are some memory needs there, etc.

 

Other than that - where is your source ZFS memory requirements - let me guess you also think it requires ECC memory, etc. etc...

 

Dude - where your getting your info, please stop ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, BudMan said:

Its amazing how much urban myth and just plain FUD gets spread around... So your planning on running deduplication on your zfs pool?  If so then sure there are some memory needs there, etc.

 

Other than that - where is your source ZFS memory requirements - let me guess you also think it requires ECC memory, etc. etc...

 

Dude - where your getting your info, please stop ;)

I know it doesn't require ECC memory. I aint that stupid... :laugh:

 

I remember reading that for every 100GB, you need 1GB of RAM. Or something like that... Might be slightly off...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

I know it doesn't require ECC memory. I aint that stupid... :laugh:

 

I remember reading that for every 100GB, you need 1GB of RAM. Or something like that... Might be slightly off...

So a 6TB system would require 60GB of ram?

:huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The advice if you are going full featured is 1GB RAM for each TB.  It runs fine on far less though if you aren't doing dedupe etc.

So an 8TB system will need 8GB of RAM... not a lot if you ask me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a "recommendation" if your doing dedupe... Is this share going to have hundreds of users that might be storing the same ###### over and over and over again?  It is a backup server?  Storing backups of the same stuff over and over again, does it have multiple VM images on it that are the same?

 

While sure its at block level, so yeah you put enough data on there and there will be dupes and you could save some space.. In your typical storage scenario for a home user all dedupe is going to bring to the table is overhead that serves no purpose..

 

Also the recommendation for the 8GB of ram on freenas has more to do with the OS and other stuff its going vs the ZFS recommendation of 1GB per 1TB, etc.

 

So lets get back to picking you out a good NAS distro to suite your needs.. What steak sauce you will want to put on it can be worked out after you pick what steak and how your going to cook it... If done correctly you prob won't even want to use a steak sauce because its going to be so good and not need it ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Medium Well and A1, @BudMan :D

 

I'm going to just use this for home storage. Nothing wild. *looks at all BudMan's gadgets*

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For ease of use I would stay with a NAS distro like FreeNAS or OpenMediaVault, or you can try an SMB/Windows server alternative like Zentyal or  ClearOS 6 which makes it easy to setup groups/users and various shares. ClearOS7 was still a little buggy last time I tried it out. OpenMedia vault, IIRC from way back, can handle login usernames like "joe@outlook.com". Just no matter which you choose, you should have a 3-2-1 backup plan or at least a cloud backup like SpideOak/etc.

I would personally start with OpenMediaVault, IIRC it also has a ZFS plugin option. but I have not tried it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many disks in this home storage - what type of disks, are these those greens you too out of a external case?  Home storage and all your devices support NFS - your a mint guy so linux.. Or do you have devices that need SMB shares?

 

What are you going to store?  Are these backup of your machines - your recipe files, pictures and or movies that can never be gotten back.  Or they are copies of night rider and A team tv shows for your media server, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I do have several drives I can use in this configuration, before I have enough money to upgrade with 3-6TB WD Reds.

 

I have:

 

2x 640GB WD Blue

2x 320GB WD Blue

1x 1.5TB WD Black (has bad sectors, but should be able to hold data for a bit longer)

2x 3TB WD Green (pulled from externals)

 

I am storing music CD-rips, some movies and TV shows, pictures and documents.

 

I lost my 1TB drive, (was replaced by 1.5TB) that had all my movies on. But they weren't that hard to replace. The SATA connector broke off of it. :(

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel like you have made this more complicated than it should be. Just go with FreeNAS and be done with it. For a home server, you'll be fine. I am not sure why everyone seems to be fascinated with WD Reds, especially for a home server... I wouldn't re-use, or use at all, a drive with bad sectors especially with my data. Big no-no. The only complaint I have with FreeNAS, and someone can correct me if this has changed, but once you create a disk pool, you are locked in and cannot add more disks to the pool. You have to re-create or create a separate pool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

I feel like you have made this more complicated than it should be. Just go with FreeNAS and be done with it. For a home server, you'll be fine. I am not sure why everyone seems to be fascinated with WD Reds, especially for a home server... I wouldn't re-use, or use at all, a drive with bad sectors especially with my data. Big no-no. The only complaint I have with FreeNAS, and someone can correct me if this has changed, but once you create a disk pool, you are locked in and cannot add more disks to the pool. You have to re-create or create a separate pool.

Are you saying WD Reds are just a hype? AFAIK, Reds are more suited for RAID.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

I feel like you have made this more complicated than it should be. Just go with FreeNAS and be done with it. For a home server, you'll be fine. I am not sure why everyone seems to be fascinated with WD Reds, especially for a home server... I wouldn't re-use, or use at all, a drive with bad sectors especially with my data. Big no-no. The only complaint I have with FreeNAS, and someone can correct me if this has changed, but once you create a disk pool, you are locked in and cannot add more disks to the pool. You have to re-create or create a separate pool.

You can expand your zpool by adding more disc in FreeNAS without blowing it up (if that is what you were inquiring about)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.