First Build, Realistic Expectations for Administration

[AZCoyote]

Hello Guys and Gals!

I have been watching FreeNAS for about 5 years and planning to build a system but never quite got to it. I think this is the year but I have some questions to make sure I am being realistic. My use case is primarily storage for my media and Plex. However, I do want a place to centralize some services like a Minecraft server, Unturned server, and my Sabnzbd/Sonarr setup. Jails seems like a good way to get those things going. I would also like to setup SMB shares and OwnCloud. I would also like to host a VM or two...

My background is technically savy. I run a firewall I built on Sophos and have run other linux based implemenations. Ubuntu is my personal flavor of Linux these days. I have a Linux box I use for a print server and controller for my Ubiquiti network now. I am a C# programmer, SQL DBA, and network admin. Pretty much jack of all trades.

Here is what I am deciding between for the hardware and if I want to FreeNAS.

$1100 - QNAP based
RAM 16 gb
12 TB drive single
4 bay
Intel Celeron J4125 Quad-core 2.0GHz

$2000 - Silverstone based
RAM 64
12 TB in Mirrored dual disk array with LSI HBA
12 bays - 8 external
AMD Ryzen 7 - 8 core

So here are the questions I hope someone can answer....

1. Can I reasonably expect to have little upkeep on a FreeNAS system? Once I have things setup, will it just run barring any hardware problems or do I constantly need to fiddle and tweak for performance? I have no issue with up front setup and configuration investment. I would very much like to get things running and leave it all to just do it's thing.

2. With my main goal as a Plex delivery system, should I consider something like the QNAP and just call it a day? I realize asking enthusiasts that might get some skewed responses. One must assume everyone here loves FreeNAS or why do it, right?

 

[ThreeDee]

I know nothing .. but I know how to follow directions should I run into problems .. I built a cheap system that is turning out to be very reliable and only fiddle with it when there are updates for TrueNAS and/or Plex ... it just works.

If you find yourself fiddling, then you probably have hardware problems/incompatibility

check my sig for cheap/so far reliable pieces to your TrueNAS puzzle

 

[Evertb1]

I stepped on the FreeNAS train some six years ago after 4 or 5 years with Windows home server and Windows server 2012 essentials. I soon experienced that if you start out with a good setup when it comes to hardware and you limit FreeNAS to be just storage you won't have much of a hard time.

The basic setup of FreeNAS, soon to be TrueNAS, will not involve a great deal of fiddling. Just take the time to read the manual and other resources and go from there. But as soon as you start with looking for backup up methods, toying with jails, VM's and all kind of third party tools and applications you will find yourself with some problems to resolve every now and then. Just take care that you set up things the right way and leave them alone after that. That for sure will limit the fiddling. But you will have the normal system maintenance. And as an IT professional that should not be a surprise to you. The manual and the forum will be your friend.

If you want an out of the box solution go for QNAP. In my opinion technically very good NAS devices, though I think that Synology has the better, more user friendly, software.

If you want a custom solution go for FreeNAS/TrueNAS but not before you have done your homework so you know what you can expect. You will be your own helpdesk, with a little help from your forum friends to be. Learning and using FreeNAS is a somewhat involved proces but can be very rewarding and you will end up with a system with one of the best (the best, according to some) filesystems there is.

By the way. Plex is a popular plugin within the forum members. There are a lot of threads to be found in the forum with Plex as subject.

Best of luck.

 

[pschatz100]

The biggest issue in most cases is compatibility with hardware. FreeBSD, which is what FreeNAS is built on, does not support the large variety of hardware that Linux does. Newer versions of FreeBSD have improved in this respect, but I would still say that you should do your homework on your hardware choices.

While the Celeron cpu in your QNAP system is fine for a data server, I don't think it will have enough power to support your other activities.

With the exception of the Unturned server, the applications you referenced are popular and well supported in the forum. Take the time to understand iocage jails and all should be well.

Some folks get crazy with tweaks and tunables, sometimes this gets them into trouble. Hacking around with permissions when you don't know what you are doing is another source of trouble. Avoid this as much as possible.

 

[joeschmuck]

Just take the time to read the manual and other resources and go from there.

I can't agree more, unfortunately many people just jump in and think it's a super easy to configure system that requires no reading. When we started FreeNAS, it was definitely not user friendly but it was IT Tech friendly because we knew you needed to read the manual. Today's FreeNAS is much more user friendly.

The biggest issue in most cases is compatibility with hardware.

But we still have folks running it on substandard hardware which is a different set of problems.

My use case is primarily storage for my media and Plex. However, I do want a place to centralize some services like a Minecraft server, Unturned server, and my Sabnzbd/Sonarr setup. Jails seems like a good way to get those things going. I would also like to setup SMB shares and OwnCloud. I would also like to host a VM or two...

My background is technically savy. I run a firewall I built on Sophos and have run other linux based implementations. Ubuntu is my personal flavor of Linux these days. I have a Linux box I use for a print server and controller for my Ubiquiti network now. I am a C# programmer, SQL DBA, and network admin. Pretty much jack of all trades.

My vote is for you to build a good server and run ESXi or similar on it, run FreeNAS in a VM (pass through the drive controller), run other VMs for your other uses. One note of caution: Dependencies on which VMs need to run first, shutdown last, and such need to be planned out. If you do not and you are using a single server for all this then you will run into issues. I have my FreeNAS start up first and shutdown last just in case I use a data share on FreeNAS for another VM. I'm not one to use jails for anything other than small simple applications, I use ESXi VM for Windows, Ubuntu, Sophos UTM (not running Sophos right now since I moved), and any trial versions of FreeNAS and other software. Just an idea.

 

[Evertb1]

My vote is for you to build a good server and run ESXi or similar on it, run FreeNAS in a VM

I agree with you. I have been running ESXi on my homelab server for 2 years now. I am so happy with it that I have decided to build a new ESXi server and consolidate my homelab server (with a TrueNAS vm) and my "production" FreeNAS server in to one system. Together with some other stuff that is running 24/7.