FreeNAS vs Ubuntu Server

[KingCollins]

Hey guys, I currently have a NAS running the FreeNAS OS and only using Transmission, Plex Server and CIFS. It works great, I do have the occasional issue regarding permission for different jails and storage sets, but apart from that it seems to be doing ok! The hardware it is currently on is an old Dell with 4Gb of RAM and a Pentium 4 HT, which is perfect for streaming Plex files in their original quality to multiple devices. 

 

I am hoping to replace this old girl with a newer Dell T3500, 16Gb of RAM and a Xeon W3530 which should hopefully be able to do some live transcoding. 

 

I am just wondering, if I am just to use this machine as a storage server with Plex, Transmission, CIFS and a DLNA would I be better sticking with FreeNAS or opting with Ubuntu Server?

 

Any feedback would be appriciated! 

 

 

[Droidbot]

Have a look at OpenMediaVault - it's Debian but with a web interface, plugins, etc. 

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

Iv never been tempted to use FreeNAS because I would rather have everything custom made. BSD is arguably better than linux for this purpose and FreeNAS has a nice web interface. If you do not need the web interface and are comfortable with the command line then you can reduce potential vulnerabilities by not running a web services.

 

As you have a ton more RAM in your new server you could utilise ZFS filesystem which AFAIK is not 100% included in the linux kernel; that might not be true anymore; requires research.

 

My concerns in running a home server are security, ransomware, and power consumption. For the server sandboxing you could continue to use jails on FreeBSD or even run a Xen hypervisor. BSD jails are much better than virtualisation in power consumption and performance; Xen has paravirtualisation which should be better than KVM; I am currently experimenting with it on an old laptop but I have not committed to using it on my server. From what I can tell Xen is better than KVM for running a mix of BSD and linux VMs.

 

I'm a fan of debian over ubuntu for custom builds because it has less. If you use the net install option you can get a very stripped down linux installation. Ubuntu server prob has more security by default because of app armour but by starting with less software and only installing the services you need its debatable which is more secure. Ubuntu also has a newer kernel but then nothing beats debian for stability.

[KingCollins]

On 11/25/2016 at 5:42 PM, SCHISCHKA said:

Iv never been tempted to use FreeNAS because I would rather have everything custom made. BSD is arguably better than linux for this purpose and FreeNAS has a nice web interface. If you do not need the web interface and are comfortable with the command line then you can reduce potential vulnerabilities by not running a web services.

 

As you have a ton more RAM in your new server you could utilise ZFS filesystem which AFAIK is not 100% included in the linux kernel; that might not be true anymore; requires research.

 

My concerns in running a home server are security, ransomware, and power consumption. For the server sandboxing you could continue to use jails on FreeBSD or even run a Xen hypervisor. BSD jails are much better than virtualisation in power consumption and performance; Xen has paravirtualisation which should be better than KVM; I am currently experimenting with it on an old laptop but I have not committed to using it on my server. From what I can tell Xen is better than KVM for running a mix of BSD and linux VMs.

 

I'm a fan of debian over ubuntu for custom builds because it has less. If you use the net install option you can get a very stripped down linux installation. Ubuntu server prob has more security by default because of app armour but by starting with less software and only installing the services you need its debatable which is more secure. Ubuntu also has a newer kernel but then nothing beats debian for stability.

Thanks for the reply guys. After looking into it a bit more I will probably stick with FreeNAS for now as my Linux skills are not too strong. Also I will be running 32Gb of RAM and not 16Gb, so I think ZFS file system will operate a little better. And for simplicity I think the front end GUI on FreeNAS does come in handy. 

 

Unfortunately I am currently having issues with the build, I have tried 3 different PSU's I have lying around in work, and none work (All of them are ANTEC).

 

This will be on hold until I can find a working power supply.

 

Thanks for your input guys!