I have been using a NAS running TrueNAS for a couple of weeks now. From the App GUI for setting up Docker containers, which I genuinely despise, to the removal of SMART tests in the new version, I don’t think this was a good call. So I’m thinking I might as well DIY it, although if you believe that may be a questionable idea, feel free to mention that!

Because of that, I am looking at Debian, as it seems to be the standard server OS, and I have used it a little before. I have light server administration experience, although not a lot, and no specific knowledge of how to optimize one to act as a NAS. I am, however, reasonably familiar with Linux in general.

  • How do I optimize Debian for NAS use?
  • What utilities should I install that provide system info, allow for network shares, and so on?
  • Are there things that TrueNAS did that I may be unaware of and should also set up for myself on Debian?
  • Do you have any tips and suggestions for what I should install in addition to that? Maybe some power optimization tools or useful dashboard software?
  • Can I just wipe the OS drive, put Debian on there, and then mount my pool once Debian is set up for ZFS, or does TrueNAS do anything special to the filesystem? If not, how should I migrate the existing data? (Mostly videos, pictures, documents, and a Home Assistant setup)
  • What are good resources to find help with Debian server administration?
  • Are there any issues with Nvidia? If so, how do I fix them? I have an old Nvidia GPU in the NAS for video encoding since my CPU doesn’t have an iGPU.
  • Are there common pitfalls in this for people with little experience like me?

I’d be glad to get some info on these topics to know if this is a reasonable idea or if I should just stick with what I have.

  • TerHu@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    10 days ago

    imma give you another opinion and start out with the unhelpful statement of „what’s best for you is gonna depend on what you need“

    I‘ve never used debian as my personal NAS, but did manage a debian cluster at work. Compared to TrueNAS and later TrueNAS in a proxmox VM, debian is a lot more effort and in that sense „a hobby“.

    Things that TrueNAS just handles for me without much work:

    • install correct and functioning legacy nvidia drivers into select docker containers. i used to use an old card and it worked like a charm. comparing that to my experience of manually installing nvidia drivers on debian, both on work servers as well as on old systems i found on the street, Debian is a real chore sometimes and requires fiddling where TrueNAS is a lot simpler.
    • TrueNAS apps are awesome. the catalogue is limited and sometimes it’s annoying how Truenas abstracts important things away (like the config file of HomeAssistant), but they are very useful too. they tend to be well-configured, updating is pretty and easy as is installing. you get automatic snapshots and rollback for each and every update. I have done systems administration as a hobby, but i kinda want my NAS to just work and that reliably. in that sense, Truenas has been better than debian for me.
    • setting things up can be annoying on truenas, but most is set and forget. I set up smart tests and they just work now. same for snapshots. configuring pools and vdevs is pretty easy and intuitive. this also is the case for harddrive power profiles and spindown. i‘ve never had to do this on debian, so all i can say is that truenas makes it all very accessible.
    • monitoring is easy-ish… if you wanna monitor from within the truenas UI, you’ll be pretty happy. there’s lots to see. some things you for some reason don’t though, and exporting makes you see even less info in some places. it’s a bit weird…
    • re-silvering is very simple
    • data replication is very nice. i’m using pcloud which has a somewhat annoying linux client. it’s a flatpak that only launches if it has a wayland (or x) session it can attach to, to display a window. kinda stupid if it’s a headless system or if i’m remoting into my desktop. still, truenas has me covered even in that regard as they can pull or push data (optionally well encrypted) to a variety of providers, including pcloud.

    there probably is lots more, but i can’t think of anything else as of right now. I’ve used „plain“ Truenas scale for over a year and then switched to proxmox with a truenas VM when i built a new nas. the transition went pretty smoothly and i really like it. it does however add a layer of complexity you must be willing to deal with.

    all things considered, i would like some things about truenas to work differently, but i would never wanna trade it. proxmox is very cool, and i like using it with a truenas VM, but i wouldn’t wanna use it without truenas i think. also i absolutely love debian and use it in many places. if i was running services on one machine and storage on another, id have the services on debian(or proxmox mby) and the storage on truenas, but as long as its just one device, its truenas.

    additional thoughts:

    • i’ve heard good things about unraid but never tested it.
    • i’ve also seen many youtubers use CasaOS, but would recommend against it. i’ve not used it, but kept stumbling upon negative news in regards to it. it’s not as bad as omarchy/dhh, but it seems semi trustworthy.