Running TrueNas on old PC need advice

[djoshi]

Hi All

I came across TrueNas while searching for a NAS storage system such as Asustor and Synology.

I would like to have some advice on the following:

I have an old PC

That is Intel Due Core 2Ghz
4GB RAM (Max based on the motherboard specification)
256 GB SSD
Motherboard Network Card 1Gbs
PCI Network Card 1Gbs

I aim to also add 2 extra hard drives which will be
4Tb Iron Wolf Harddrives.

My aim to use True Nas is to backup work-related files from multiple PC's(max 5-6) in a small office.

Could my hardware be sufficient initially? After which I could upgrade my PC to more powerful systems with more RAM.

I would like to have multiple folders, which would be seen as network drives on all my PCS. Some network drives should be able to be accessible by all PC as a common shared area.

Does TrueNas get installed on a USB stick or would it be installed on my SSD?

Can the SSD be used for additional features such as caching etc? As I presume the NAS OS would not take much space but there would be a lot of free space on SSD.

Can it also be possible to also install a SVN and GIT server on True NAS?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Could my hardware be sufficient initially?

No. You need at least 8 GB of memory.

 

[djoshi]

No. You need at least 8 GB of memory.

Thanks, what would happen with only 4GB of RAM?

 

[sretalla]

Assuming you sort out the RAM situation first:

Does TrueNas get installed on a USB stick or would it be installed on my SSD?

It can, but USB installs are not recommended. An additional SSD would be ideal. There is a hack that allows you to use some space from the boot device for a data pool, but this is already unsupported territory.

We need to first assess if you will be storing data on there that you care about. A single-disk pool isn't a good strategy for keeping data you don't want to lose. Even less a mixed boot/data disk.

Can the SSD be used for additional features such as caching etc?

That would not be recommended based on your proposed hardware setup, but again, is something that can happen if it makes sense.

Can it also be possible to also install a SVN and GIT server on True NAS?

Using Jails (or even plugins, which are pre-prepared template jails), yes.

 

[djoshi]

I had a look it seems that I can upgrade my RAM to 8GB on the motherboard, so I will do that.

I will avoid using USB, and install directly to the SSD, and then use my other two Hard drive( 4TB).

What can be done to maximise the resource I have? I have an additional SSD which is 100GB, can that be used for anything?

Is there a list of Jail plugins or examples of setting it up?

 

[sretalla]

Is there a list of Jail plugins or examples of setting it up?

Once you have it running, go to the Plugins section and browse the community plugins list. Click "Install" on the one(s) that you want.

The documentation covers that too.

/core/coretutorials/jailspluginsvms/plugins/

I have an additional SSD which is 100GB, can that be used for anything?

Consider running that as your jails pool, that will probably be the best for performance of the Plugins/jails. Make sure to set up an apps/config dataset and mount the config for each app so you can re.create jails if needed without losing your config/data.

What can be done to maximise the resource I have?

Make sure you move your system dataset to the boot pool. Probably not much more than that to do.

 

[djoshi]

Ok, So that I understood correctly. This is what i intend to do now...

1st SSD would be for TRUENAS
2nd SSD would be for JailPlugin
1ST NASDISK, ALL BACK UP DATA
2ND NASDISK, MIRROR OF 1ST.

Make sure to set up an apps/config dataset and mount the config for each app so you can re.create jails if needed without losing your config/data.

So I mount each plugin to the 2nd SSD?

Make sure you move your system dataset to the boot pool. Probably not much more than that to do

Is there a good step by step guide i can follow, so setup i correctly done?


By the way my PC does not have bootable USB , Can ISO be mounted some other way like CD or harddrive?


I would like to also configure the system, that if i want o change my PC in the future, all i need to do is swap the hardrive and it would simple start up as usual on new pc, can that be achived?

 

[sretalla]

So I mount each plugin to the 2nd SSD?

Plugins all use iocage (the jail system). Iocage will only allow you to put the jails/plugins on one pool in the same parent dataset.

You can then mount any additional storage you want into selected paths inside the jails for your applications to access things from the host storage, you're not limited to any specific pool for that.

Is there a good step by step guide i can follow, so setup i correctly done?

Not really. For that step you just go to System | Sytem Dataset and pick the pool you want it to go on.

By the way my PC does not have bootable USB , Can ISO be mounted some other way like CD or harddrive?

Yes, ISO can be burnt to CD/DVD (I think it's too big for CD though)

I would like to also configure the system, that if i want o change my PC in the future, all i need to do is swap the hardrive and it would simple start up as usual on new pc, can that be achived?

TrueNAS doesn't marry itself to the hardware. If you put the disks into another system and account for the potentially different network card, all your stuff will work in the new machine.

Short answer: yes.

 

[ChrisRJ]

I think you should seriously consider to get yourself a new (used) motherboard that is more suited. Used enterprise gear (e.g. Supermicro) is often available pretty cheap. Independently I would recommend to spend a few weeks on the forum, before making any "hard" decisions. You will learn an awful lot by just reading.

 

[djoshi]

I think you should seriously consider to get yourself a new (used) motherboard that is more suited. Used enterprise gear (e.g. Supermicro) is often available pretty cheap. Independently I would recommend to spend a few weeks on the forum, before making any "hard" decisions. You will learn an awful lot by just reading.

First, i would like to get a feel of NAS on old PC, once I get comfortable with working with it, i would then invest in getting better hardware. This is simply to get our small company to start backing up data in central place, instead of usb disk and sticks.

 

[djoshi]

Plugins all use iocage (the jail system). Iocage will only allow you to put the jails/plugins on one pool in the same parent dataset.

You can then mount any additional storage you want into selected paths inside the jails for your applications to access things from the host storage, you're not limited to any specific pool for that.


Not really. For that step you just go to System | Sytem Dataset and pick the pool you want it to go on.


Yes, ISO can be burnt to CD/DVD (I think it's too big for CD though)


TrueNAS doesn't marry itself to the hardware. If you put the disks into another system and account for the potentially different network card, all your stuff will work in the new machine.

Short answer: yes.

Thanks

So that i understand it correctly, i will install TrueNAS on SSD 1, but when it comes to jail plugins its best to keep them in SSD2?

Or should i keep everything in SSD1,and all data on NAS DISK? I will need to read up on plugins to get a better understanding

 

[sretalla]

So that i understand it correctly, i will install TrueNAS on SSD 1, but when it comes to jail plugins its best to keep them in SSD2?

For a supported install, you need to keep everything that isn't the OS (or system dataset) off the boot pool, so that's the right way to do it.