Need help with my NAS

[Heinvt01]

I need help. I am running a proxmox server. I want to create a NAS.
I know that Truenas is very popular. But for the moment i only have 1x 3TB WD Red drive that I can add to the server. What should I use as my NAS software? will Truenas work?

In the future I plan to build a proper NAS but I am not there yet. And at the moment I am a little strapped for system resources my current services does not use much of my resources but I still only have 16GB Memory and a 4 core i5-3470.

If anyone has some useful advice I would really appreciate it

 

[Billionairebum]

If you comfortable with SAMBA I reckon just create a software based raid, ZFS/MDRAID and share out using the samba config.

If you strapped for resources, maybe look at OMV.

 

[mzezman]

If you comfortable with SAMBA I reckon just create a software based raid, ZFS/MDRAID and share out using the samba config.

If you strapped for resources, maybe look at OMV.

OMV is really nice for those not too technical. I found TrueNAS can be complicated with its pools etc whereas OMV just chugs along with minimal complexity. OMV for me

 

[KirenG77]

Take a look at the Proxmox Homelab Series by Tim Kye. I was running OMV on a NUC with a 5 disk USB3 dock for years but when I consolidated my NAS into my Proxmox box I went the route of using Cockpit in a CT with my drives as mountpoints. Tim takes you through the process and addresses the user mapping annoyances with unprivileged containers in a simple straightforward manner and my system has been running well for a couple of months now.

 

[mzezman]

Take a look at the Proxmox Homelab Series by Tim Kye. I was running OMV on a NUC with a 5 disk USB3 dock for years but when I consolidated my NAS into my Proxmox box I went the route of using Cockpit in a CT with my drives as mountpoints. Tim takes you through the process and addresses the user mapping annoyances with unprivileged containers in a simple straightforward manner and my system has been running well for a couple of months now.

What are you running Proxmox on?

 

[Trompie67]

OMV used to be the bomb. Simple, uncomplicated and easy to use/understand - plus there were a gazillion YT videos/channels to assist in doing extra add-on things.
I was using OMV as a media server, with Docker + Portainer running Adguard Home, Speedtest Tracker, Glances, Shlink, Unifi, Heimdal and a few others. It worked grand in OMV 5. Had some issues in OMV 6 but figured it out - until the devs removed docker/portainer as add-ons and made some "compose" kak native to OMV. Then it went pear shaped. But stubbornness (and stupidity) got it working. Mostly.
Now it's migrated to OMV7 and it's leaning to Kubernetes instead of docker. Extra complications. Extra (new) learning curve.
Why not just leave well enough alone? Or fork it into different routes for those who may (or may NOT, judging by the OMV Forum posts), instead of mucking about with a core application that really worked & did so much really well.
IMHO Therein lies the danger of open source with one or a few devs in total control - users are left at the mercy of whatever whim the devs fancy this month.

I have reverted back to early OMV 6 on a base OS of Debian 11, have installed all my docker add-ons and shit that I use that makes me happy, and have ignored updates/upgrades so that the system does not bork. It is working like a charm again.

Caveat - as a simple NAS / Media Server it is in all likelihood still a very good option for folks new to the NAS setup idea.

 

[KirenG77]

What are you running Proxmox on?

I was running Proxmox on an old HP DL380 gen 7 with dual Xeon 5650 CPUs and 64GB RAM. It is actually a pretty good machine but was overkill for my use. I then used a NUC for a while but was limited with the RAM.

I've since switched to a standard desktop system using an old i7 3930k CPU on an MSI Big Bang Xpower II motherboard. I picked the system up cheap here on Carb. The mobo has 8 RAM slots, 10 SATA ports and 7 PCI-E slots so lots of room for expansion. I've upgraded the RAM to 64GB as that always runs out first. It uses less power, generates less heat, is easier to work on and easily meets all my current requirements.

 

[mzezman]

I was running Proxmox on an old HP DL380 gen 7 with dual Xeon 5650 CPUs and 64GB RAM. It is actually a pretty good machine but was overkill for my use. I then used a NUC for a while but was limited with the RAM.

I've since switched to a standard desktop system using an old i7 3930k CPU on an MSI Big Bang Xpower II motherboard. I picked the system up cheap here on Carb. The mobo has 8 RAM slots, 10 SATA ports and 7 PCI-E slots so lots of room for expansion. I've upgraded the RAM to 64GB as that always runs out first. It uses less power, generates less heat, is easier to work on and easily meets all my current requirements.

Ah nice - I also have that HP - that's what's running my Proxmox as well. I then got a separate ODroid for the NAS specific function. Still thinking about whether I want to downgrade the HP to a cluster of mini PCs - would def save on power

 

[KirenG77]

Ah nice - I also have that HP - that's what's running my Proxmox as well. I then got a separate ODroid for the NAS specific function. Still thinking about whether I want to downgrade the HP to a cluster of mini PCs - would def save on power

Would it actually be a downgrade? What sort of load is your HP experiencing? In my case it was idling at around 4% much of the time and would only really ramp up when transcoding videos or running stuff in GNS3. I wasn't using the server at anywhere near it's capabilities. It was sucking money with the electricity usage and additional cooling requirements so I had to make a change.

I saw some damn nice Proxmox minilabs and was considering going that route. The idea of setting up a HA cluster with lower power usage and heat generation and occupying less physical space was tempting but once I decided to consolidate my NAS into Proxmox, I was always going to go with a tower system. When I came across my current system it ticked all of the boxes for me, lots of expansion options, large 1050W PSU and a GTX 1060 for transcoding so I jumped on it. I may change the CPU to a Xeon at some point so that I can push the ram up to 128GB but that's not necessary right now.

 

[mzezman]

Was trying to paste an image here with my month stats on promos but clearly its not as straightforward

Max CPU load was 40% for a couple of hours - someone was probably watching a 4k video or something
Max Server load was 20 at that sometime as well

I think my concern is more a single point of failure - if this HP dies I lose my NVR (BluIris VM) and Home Automation (LXC) - the other items are less critical (PiHole, Plex, Unifi and TrueNAS) so I can do with some downtime there. You are right though - a NUC / SFF based solution wouldn't be a downgrade since my loads aren't that insane