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0 pointsGud3mo ago0 comments

But you are setting up and configuring a unix system, just with a third party gui bolted on.

Why do you think using FreeBSD as a NAS complicates your life?

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But there is nothing fundamental to configure in TrueNAS. Everything crucial to the base experience works perfectly out of the box: just install, connect to Ethernet, and visit http://truenas.local in your browser. I only have to make decisions pertinent to the NAS layer such as ZFS management and access control.

With a FreeBSD or Linux machine, even step one requires considerable thought. Are there web UI packages that I can use? Which one do I pick? Where do I install it from? How do I ensure that it runs on boot? Do I have to mess with the network configuration to ensure that http://mynas.local is accessible? How do I configure SMB? What's the deal with security updates? And so on, dozens of times over.

It's great if you're already in the depths of sysadmindom and know what you're doing, but man, I just want to put my files on some LAN drives and call it a day.

GudOP3mo ago

I have used many of the appliance operating systems in existence, including TrueNAS over the years, hence why I’ve come to the conclusion I’ve come to. I used to evangelise them, particularly FreeNAS and pfsense. I used them for years and I was quite happy with them. But eventually you run into a bug with their (bolted on) interface and you have to dig inside the guts anyway. Except now it’s 10 times more difficult than just using the base OS, Debian FreeBSD or whatever, because of the extensive changes made by the appliance OS vendor…

If you are looking to replicate the exact same thing(why would a NAS need a web ui), of course there is considerable work ahead of you.

I believe you are overstating how difficult it is to configure a FreeBSD box as a NAS. Configuring samba for example is a breeze.

The questions you are asking are good questions that are answered by the manual. Keeping FresBSD updated requires the use of two commands, both well documented in the handbook, freebsd-update and pkg.

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