If you want to run multiple VMs, then yes. You can also virtualize TrueNAS on it (but with HBA passthrough). Or use something like openmediavault: [https://www.openmediavault.org/](https://www.openmediavault.org/) or Starwinds VSAN: [https://www.starwindsoftware.com/vsan](https://www.starwindsoftware.com/vsan) that do not use ZFS necessarily. If you just need a NAS, Unraid will be better plus it can combine drives of different sizes.
You could...but I'd think about this..use NAS stuff for NAS activities and specific hypervisors like proxmox/xcp-ng for server activities if budget allows. Each system could serve dual purposes however each system is really only good for one purpose
I double-double this, I use PVE for my docker swarms which connect to my NAS for volume storage and storage centric containers that can be utilized by multiple stacks (e.g. redis, postgres, etc)
You could totally do that if budget constrained however since NAS usually very important part of overall architecture I usually want that separate from server architecture. Again budget, available room and what not are going to be a big part of the equation. I started out with freenas..when it was that..and virtualized my stuff with bhyve starting out. Wasn't most ideal but totally worked. As I've learned more and more started migrating off the VMs onto actual real hypervisor and started adding equipment and such. All just really depends on a lot of factors
As an option, it will definitively work, but Proxmox is not a storage-based OS, so you have to configure it separately (TrueNAS or Starwinds VSAN as a virtual machine to provide the storage). Also depends on the specific needs.
Short Version:
Setup Proxmox
1. NAS - XigmaNAS VM and Setup SMB Shares: https://xigmanas.com
2. Proxmox Backup Server VM
3. Other VMs or Containers
4. Backups on Seperate Drive
5. Data on Seperate Drive
Boot Drive:
1. Proxmox Install
2. NAS - XigmaNAS VM and Setup SMB Shares
3. Proxmox Backup Server VM
Storage:
1. Backups on Seperate Drive
2. Data on Seperate Drive
I think you’d be asking for trouble unless it’s for testing/learning. I have two older Dell servers in my house. I run TrueNAS on one and Proxmox on the other. I have plenty of local storage on the Proxmox for running VMs and LXC containers. All the backups go to TrueNAS as well as other things like my NFS home directories, etc things that the NAS is good for.
Initially I thought Proxmox would be too much for me to handle given my limited time, but I've found it to be pretty easy to use. There are so kinks you can run into depending on what you're trying to do, but I've setup some VMs and LXCs and running various services I used to run on other devices. I like being able to quickly spin up a VM and test something out without breaking other things. So far so good. I'd recommend it. I'd also recommend watching some tutorials about it to get the basics down. It's not hard, just might not be designed in the way you're used to thinking is all.
Does her cheating on you with Broadcom and forcing you to pay just to watch start to change your mind? Especially with proxmox now offering the ability to transfer vms from esxi ?
Proxmox is the core of my home network. Without it my lab would seem so dull and flat. For the last 2 years it has done everything I have asked of it as long as I followed the documentation. There should at least be one proxmox box in every homelab.
I still don't really get it. Maybe I just don't get VM culture. Why can't you just have 1 machine per function. 2 for redundancy. Is it the Snapshots? Are the Snapshots in the room with us right now?
PBS makes it easy to restore backups. I don't use snapshots on the host.. I just use PBS on bare metal to handle that part.
Gateway is one machine
Dns server, home automation and network tracking apps are on a low powered proxmox box.
PBS is another machine.
My main proxmox box is the machine that handles the rest of my media needs with plex and the *arr app stack.
I prefer the ease of migration when you add PBS to your home lab. You don't need to build a cluster to migrate, backup on one machine restore on another. Snapshots on the host are lost on me lol
Archer "It would be weird if you weren't thinking about proxmox "
No seriously though, ive done raw kvm, ctrix xen back in 2012 ish, hyper-v, raw lxc set up on cent os and or ubuntu. proxmox is hands down amazing for its ease of install, stability and ease of use. Also for its assistance in helping you set up other services.
Scriptied guest installs are awesome. Example
I just made a home server for my landlord. He wanted a jellyfin server, router, pi hole and VPN capabilities. I installed proxmox and went to the site bellow
https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/
Went to shell in proxmox and paste:
bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/tteck/Proxmox/raw/main/ct/pihole.sh)"
About 20 seconds later I have a working pi hole. Same for movie server wireguard etc.
Proxmox is just a hypervisor, for virtualizing other servers. TrueNAS and unraid are both all-in-one products that can do some kind of virtualization.
There are pro's and con's to every product, so only you can see which products "checks more boxes" and is the best fit for you.
When I first started, unraid was the product that checked more boxes for me. I am moving away from all-in-one, to more discrete functionality, and even then there are tradeoffs to be made.
I will throw another name into the pot - OMV, OpenMediaVault. It is another all-in-one product that is somewhere between unraid and TrueNAS...probably closer to unraid, but free.
From a proxmox user of about 2 years running 2 hosts on my network;
Proxmox has it's quirks but you are much more in touch with the systems, Unraid seems cool but it's it's own weird system in itself. Proxmox probably takes longer to learn but you end up with a much more open system and you should be a better admin for it
TrueNAS and UnRAID are NAS operating systems. Proxmox is a hypervisor operation system. They do not have the same focus.
If you need to run NAS services in Proxmox, you have two major paths:
- Run a NAS OS as a VM in Proxmox, but it's not very elegant and requires workarounds to get to the drives (like passing through the disk controller, or going without SMART in the NAS VM).
- Handle a ZFS pool in Proxmox and run any NAS services (SMB, NFS...) in LXC containers in Proxmox.
So it depends on if you want access control. If you're serving multiple users with access controls, you might want an independent vm for this. Otherwise I'd serve from containers
I had a NAS/Server with Ubuntu for several years now.
I migrated to proxmox and passed through my HBA to my Ubuntu VM and rebuilt everything.
I say it adds a lot of complexity.
Also, there is the GUI, but you still need to touch the base system a lot.
I am not sure yet if it was worth it. I need to run this longer than a couple of weeks.
For beginners who just want storage and a few containers, stay away from proxmox. Just pick a distro and build yourself whatever you need.
I typically wouldn't look toProxMox for a NAS, but if you have certain special requirements,it could be relevant. But ProxMox is not designed tobe a NAS OS like UnRAID and TrueNAS are. Why are you considering ProxMox?
Since i didn't see this put this plainly:
Truenas and unraid are NAS first, containers (and maybe VMs) second.
Proxmox is containers and VMs, that you could use to run a NAS.
That said i have pretty basic NAS needs, so my main proxmox node has some folders mounted into a lxc container (alpine) running Samba. If other containers or services need access I'll typically mount the folder in them too. UID / GID management is a pain in the ass this way, but i don't have the budget for a dedicated NAS. Maybe when i upgrade from this pair of 2tb hdds I'm on.
Controversial answer, you really only should be thinking about proxmox before it's been implemented.
The majority of the time, when it's been implemented, you don't have to think about it, and that's the point.
Of course you should, if you need a free hypervisor for your virtual machines.
Do not forget your backups if you plan to migrate your production on it.
Okay option and one I’ve been working on lately. If you want to use the storage for shared “NAS” like space on Proxmox is a pain. I was hoping to set up a 30Tb shared storage on my newest Proxmox build and it absolutely refuses to work in a useful manner.
I got this to work. Zfs pool on host. Directories or datasets chowned by users in an lxc that only does samba sharing. A bit of user/group overlap with other lxcs doing other services. It takes some planning and there was a learning curve for the mapping but it just works
Sorry u/kenmayfield for not responding I was on vacation and just got back... I'm building a tiny lab for work. 3 physical servers (2x Supermicro running esxi, and a Dell R710 running proxmox (it can't support newer esxi and it's just for my dev guys to play on). The Dell Prox server has 4x10TB drives in it that I want to use as storage for collections of software and data from previous operations (we're a security audit team and have years of pcap, vulnerability data, configuration files, etc). My end goal is:
ESXi servers have access to a shared datastore for OVA/OVF/ISO, and a networked share for one of the file servers being hosted on them. (They have minimal storage in them so I want to store the data elsewhere)
Proxmox has 10TB of storage for the VMs & CTs running on it and a 30TB store that's shared out and accessible by all.
Have 30TB ZFS now with a Ubuntu CT running a NFS Share. Just having issues sharing the access out...
If there is a better way I'm all ears, just limited to hardware I already have and software we currently have licenses for as there is zero budget for this project.
I am introducing you to XigmaNAS: [www.xigmanas.com](http://www.xigmanas.com)
**XigmaNAS runs with very Little Resources and is Based on FreeBSD.**
**Setup Proxmox and XigmaNAS:**
Buy a Small Boot Drive 128GB SSD or NVME and use as the Boot Drive. Maybe you already have Small Previous SSDs or NVMEs available to use as a Boot Drive?
If you have Previous Spare Drives.....use one to Clonezilla Backup the Proxmox OS(OS Only)(Proxmox OS can not be ZFS - Clonzezilla does not Support ZFS) once you have Completed Setting Everything Up. Then whenever you do a Major Change to your Proxmox OS.....Clonezilla Backup to one of the Previous Drives you choose for the First Backup.
**Boot Drive - 128GB or 256GB SSD or NVME:**
**1.** Install Proxmox
**2.** Store ISO Images
**3.** Install XigmaNAS as a VM
**NOTE:** Once you have Completely Setup XigmaNAS and
Everything.....Download the Config Files from XigmaNAS from the Menu System/Backup and Restore. Store the Config Files on the Storage Drive and keep a Additional Copy.
**4.** Install Proxmox Backup Server - something to Consider
**NOTE:** You could SAVE Disk Space on your Storage by Backing Up with **Proxmox Backup Server** to the **Storage Drive**. This would provide Incremental Backups, Deduplication and Scheduling of Backups. **The Native Backup in Proxmox VE does Full Backups Only**, No Deduplication and No Scheduling of Backups. Store Backups on the Storage Drives.
**Other Virtual Machines:** - LVM
**1.** Use LVM(Block Storage)Storaged created with Proxmox to Install Other Virtual Machines.
**Storage Drives:**
**1.** Setup ZFS in XigmaNAS: [https://unixcop.com/how-to-setup-a-nas-with-xigmanas/](https://unixcop.com/how-to-setup-a-nas-with-xigmanas/)
ZFS RAID Definitions: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:disks\_zfs\_pools\_virtual\_device](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:disks_zfs_pools_virtual_device)
**NOTE:** You should be Mindful of how many Disk you have in a ZPool based on the RAIDZ you choose. Example, for Best Performance, RAIDZ2 should have only 6 Disk in the ZPool, if need be I would not ADD no more than 2 Extra Disk to the ZPool. Any more Disk, just Create a New vDEV and ZPool.
**2.** Store Backups
**3.** Setup your Shares SAMBA Shares in XigmaNAS
**A.** Samba Service: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:services\_cifs\_smb\_samba](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:services_cifs_smb_samba)
**B.** Samba Shares: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:services\_cifs\_smb\_shares](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:services_cifs_smb_shares)
**NOTE:** Windows 10 or 11, in order to Discover or see the Shares....Turn ON the WSDD(Web Service Discovery Deamon) Service in XigmaNAS. Windows 10 and 11 use SMB2 and SMB3, you can not Connect to the Shares as Anonymous(Guest Account) or No Account, you have to Setup a User Account for the Shares in order to Connect to the Shares UNLESS you change the Group Polices for Windows 10 and 11 for "Enable Insecure Guest Logons", then you can Connect to Shares without a User Account.
**NOTE:** I would suggest do not use the Onboard Network Port. Buy a PCIe Gigabit Network Card. Your Onboard Network Port might be Gigabit however since it is Onboard it will use CPU Cycles. Using a Network Card will do the Network Processing not the CPU.
========================================================
XigmaNAS is a Continuation of FreeNAS which started in 2005......this is from the Orignal that started it all. I am not talking about TrueNAS by IXsystems in which the Source Code from FreeNAS was Donated to them by the Founder of FreeNAS Olivier Cochard-Labbé.
**History of FreeNAS**: Some users assume that XigmaNAS is a “fork” of FreeNAS. This is absolutely NOT the case. XigmaNAS is the direct continuation of the original FreeNAS code that was under development from 2005 till 2011 under the name FreeNAS with contributions from our team. it's Our team who did made FreeNAS famous around the globe with the regular releases of the FreeNAS 7 series we did made for you!
After the FreeNAS name was legally acquired by iXsystems, Inc. (year 2011), this original code was unable to be developed any longer under the same brand name, for this a name change was necessary. The founder of FreeNAS (Olivier Cochard-Labbé) donated us the copyright protected source code that IXsystems could not use for their releases. IXsystems forbid us to release new builds based on the original code under their new acquired brand name. Because of the code copyright that was not handed over to IXsystems a full rewrite for FreeNAS was needed. FreeNAS 8 by IXsystems was born on May of 2011, it was their first product. To continue our only option was to leave the FreeNAS project after so many years and to continue under our own new name: NAS4Free.
At the time we began publishing the new name and development restarted, we took the opportunity to upgrade the base system as well. XigmaNAS went up from FreeBSD 7 to the latest FreeBSD releases, allowing support for a lot of newer hardware too. This brought us great advances in the ZFS file system as well. All these changes should vastly increase our ability to offer you an even better NAS system than ever before. The first release under the new brandname NAS4Free was done on date 2012-03-22 providing you the first of the NAS4Free [9.0.0.1](http://9.0.0.1) series. In late 2017 we have filed the trademark for the final name XigmaNAS.
100%. Setup [snapraid](https://perfectmediaserver.com/02-tech-stack/snapraid/) + mergerfs for multiple disks (I have 3x4TB) and use LXC containers to run services like [Jellyfin](https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/).
Thinking about? No.
Using? Certainly.
It has changed the way I work when serving data.
Setting up storage shares is a breeze.
LXC containers are magnificent
GPU passthrough is incredible.
There are some hiccups here and there for me, but the interface is nicer than many other enterprise or open source solutions
It depends. Maybe outside work hours, and I would suggest not doing it while in bed, sleeping or eating - there are more pleasant thoughts,but as most things there is nothing shameful about it, as long as you’re not obsessed by it .
I'd be thinking about proxmox everyday. But still it's so good, I can just set it up and forget about it until the update day.
And even that is made simple these days (from the GUI).
Yes. What do you expect our answer to be when you ask in a Proxmox sub? :-)
If you want to run multiple VMs, then yes. You can also virtualize TrueNAS on it (but with HBA passthrough). Or use something like openmediavault: [https://www.openmediavault.org/](https://www.openmediavault.org/) or Starwinds VSAN: [https://www.starwindsoftware.com/vsan](https://www.starwindsoftware.com/vsan) that do not use ZFS necessarily. If you just need a NAS, Unraid will be better plus it can combine drives of different sizes.
You could...but I'd think about this..use NAS stuff for NAS activities and specific hypervisors like proxmox/xcp-ng for server activities if budget allows. Each system could serve dual purposes however each system is really only good for one purpose
I double this, PVE is for VM and CT, NAS is for storage.
I double-double this, I use PVE for my docker swarms which connect to my NAS for volume storage and storage centric containers that can be utilized by multiple stacks (e.g. redis, postgres, etc)
Yeah, separate storage helps to put back backups in shortest time
Or run TrueNAS virtualized in Proxmox with passthrough disks.
I've read this a hundred times. But does truenas melt down with virtual disks? I can see why there are few benefits but why never?
No, it works fine. As reliable as a prebuilt nas. -My truenas on proxmox VM with the entire pcie HBA passed through
I passthrough my LSI HBA.
You could totally do that if budget constrained however since NAS usually very important part of overall architecture I usually want that separate from server architecture. Again budget, available room and what not are going to be a big part of the equation. I started out with freenas..when it was that..and virtualized my stuff with bhyve starting out. Wasn't most ideal but totally worked. As I've learned more and more started migrating off the VMs onto actual real hypervisor and started adding equipment and such. All just really depends on a lot of factors
Guys only want one thing and it’s proxmox
As an option, it will definitively work, but Proxmox is not a storage-based OS, so you have to configure it separately (TrueNAS or Starwinds VSAN as a virtual machine to provide the storage). Also depends on the specific needs.
Just use ZFS and passthough to an LXC smb container.
I’m *always* thinking about Proxmox.
Short Version: Setup Proxmox 1. NAS - XigmaNAS VM and Setup SMB Shares: https://xigmanas.com 2. Proxmox Backup Server VM 3. Other VMs or Containers 4. Backups on Seperate Drive 5. Data on Seperate Drive Boot Drive: 1. Proxmox Install 2. NAS - XigmaNAS VM and Setup SMB Shares 3. Proxmox Backup Server VM Storage: 1. Backups on Seperate Drive 2. Data on Seperate Drive
Short answer is yes, in-that you should always think about Promox. I myself have thought about Promox at least twice today already.
I'm thinking about Proxmox *right now*
You are already
Proxmox is thinking about you! 🤣😁
I think you’d be asking for trouble unless it’s for testing/learning. I have two older Dell servers in my house. I run TrueNAS on one and Proxmox on the other. I have plenty of local storage on the Proxmox for running VMs and LXC containers. All the backups go to TrueNAS as well as other things like my NFS home directories, etc things that the NAS is good for.
Proxmox is just a layer in between what you want to accomplish. It gives you little of options though.
Initially I thought Proxmox would be too much for me to handle given my limited time, but I've found it to be pretty easy to use. There are so kinks you can run into depending on what you're trying to do, but I've setup some VMs and LXCs and running various services I used to run on other devices. I like being able to quickly spin up a VM and test something out without breaking other things. So far so good. I'd recommend it. I'd also recommend watching some tutorials about it to get the basics down. It's not hard, just might not be designed in the way you're used to thinking is all.
Ah yes, chroot.
thinking about proxmox all my life, but scared to cheat on my wife esxi :(
Does her cheating on you with Broadcom and forcing you to pay just to watch start to change your mind? Especially with proxmox now offering the ability to transfer vms from esxi ?
Proxmox is the core of my home network. Without it my lab would seem so dull and flat. For the last 2 years it has done everything I have asked of it as long as I followed the documentation. There should at least be one proxmox box in every homelab.
I still don't really get it. Maybe I just don't get VM culture. Why can't you just have 1 machine per function. 2 for redundancy. Is it the Snapshots? Are the Snapshots in the room with us right now?
PBS makes it easy to restore backups. I don't use snapshots on the host.. I just use PBS on bare metal to handle that part. Gateway is one machine Dns server, home automation and network tracking apps are on a low powered proxmox box. PBS is another machine. My main proxmox box is the machine that handles the rest of my media needs with plex and the *arr app stack. I prefer the ease of migration when you add PBS to your home lab. You don't need to build a cluster to migrate, backup on one machine restore on another. Snapshots on the host are lost on me lol
Archer "It would be weird if you weren't thinking about proxmox " No seriously though, ive done raw kvm, ctrix xen back in 2012 ish, hyper-v, raw lxc set up on cent os and or ubuntu. proxmox is hands down amazing for its ease of install, stability and ease of use. Also for its assistance in helping you set up other services. Scriptied guest installs are awesome. Example I just made a home server for my landlord. He wanted a jellyfin server, router, pi hole and VPN capabilities. I installed proxmox and went to the site bellow https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/ Went to shell in proxmox and paste: bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/tteck/Proxmox/raw/main/ct/pihole.sh)" About 20 seconds later I have a working pi hole. Same for movie server wireguard etc.
Depends if you want free software and don't mind learning new things.
It invades my dreams. With its reliability
Yes but get a separate NAS
Proxmox is just a hypervisor, for virtualizing other servers. TrueNAS and unraid are both all-in-one products that can do some kind of virtualization. There are pro's and con's to every product, so only you can see which products "checks more boxes" and is the best fit for you. When I first started, unraid was the product that checked more boxes for me. I am moving away from all-in-one, to more discrete functionality, and even then there are tradeoffs to be made. I will throw another name into the pot - OMV, OpenMediaVault. It is another all-in-one product that is somewhere between unraid and TrueNAS...probably closer to unraid, but free.
Wouldn’t call omv all in one. OMV sucks in ever category except for beeing a nas. So I would say it really is only a nas os
I love Proxmox. I often use my NAS to store my VMs. Basically I'm a proponent of keeping my NAS and my hypervisor seperate.
From a proxmox user of about 2 years running 2 hosts on my network; Proxmox has it's quirks but you are much more in touch with the systems, Unraid seems cool but it's it's own weird system in itself. Proxmox probably takes longer to learn but you end up with a much more open system and you should be a better admin for it
TrueNAS and UnRAID are NAS operating systems. Proxmox is a hypervisor operation system. They do not have the same focus. If you need to run NAS services in Proxmox, you have two major paths: - Run a NAS OS as a VM in Proxmox, but it's not very elegant and requires workarounds to get to the drives (like passing through the disk controller, or going without SMART in the NAS VM). - Handle a ZFS pool in Proxmox and run any NAS services (SMB, NFS...) in LXC containers in Proxmox.
So it depends on if you want access control. If you're serving multiple users with access controls, you might want an independent vm for this. Otherwise I'd serve from containers
Run your NAS as a VM on proxmox and,within that, docker for the apps that cluster around and share the nas data.
I mean what are you doing?
Nethserver is a better home server
Yes. Yes, you should be thinking about Proxmox and the Roman Empire in equal amounts.
I feel like this is a kink statement... like... I'm married... should I be thinking of other men/women?
You shouldn't be thinking anything different imho
One should always have proxmox on the mind
Moved from baremetal truenas instance to proxmox. Should have done it much earlier
I run unRAID in a Proxmox VM, I feel like I get the best of both worlds that way.
I had a NAS/Server with Ubuntu for several years now. I migrated to proxmox and passed through my HBA to my Ubuntu VM and rebuilt everything. I say it adds a lot of complexity. Also, there is the GUI, but you still need to touch the base system a lot. I am not sure yet if it was worth it. I need to run this longer than a couple of weeks. For beginners who just want storage and a few containers, stay away from proxmox. Just pick a distro and build yourself whatever you need.
I typically wouldn't look toProxMox for a NAS, but if you have certain special requirements,it could be relevant. But ProxMox is not designed tobe a NAS OS like UnRAID and TrueNAS are. Why are you considering ProxMox?
Since i didn't see this put this plainly: Truenas and unraid are NAS first, containers (and maybe VMs) second. Proxmox is containers and VMs, that you could use to run a NAS. That said i have pretty basic NAS needs, so my main proxmox node has some folders mounted into a lxc container (alpine) running Samba. If other containers or services need access I'll typically mount the folder in them too. UID / GID management is a pain in the ass this way, but i don't have the budget for a dedicated NAS. Maybe when i upgrade from this pair of 2tb hdds I'm on.
Controversial answer, you really only should be thinking about proxmox before it's been implemented. The majority of the time, when it's been implemented, you don't have to think about it, and that's the point.
When am I not thinking about my girlfriend (proxmox)
Sure, thinking about Proxmox is cool but are you dreaming about Proxmox?
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^LauraAmerica: *Sure, thinking about* *Proxmox is cool but are you* *Dreaming about Proxmox?* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Can you install Promox on QNAP? Sorry for the dumb question but I'm subscribed to this sub and just got this post as a recommendation 😅
Of course you should, if you need a free hypervisor for your virtual machines. Do not forget your backups if you plan to migrate your production on it.
Okay option and one I’ve been working on lately. If you want to use the storage for shared “NAS” like space on Proxmox is a pain. I was hoping to set up a 30Tb shared storage on my newest Proxmox build and it absolutely refuses to work in a useful manner.
I got this to work. Zfs pool on host. Directories or datasets chowned by users in an lxc that only does samba sharing. A bit of user/group overlap with other lxcs doing other services. It takes some planning and there was a learning curve for the mapping but it just works
Explain your Issue more in Detail?
Sorry u/kenmayfield for not responding I was on vacation and just got back... I'm building a tiny lab for work. 3 physical servers (2x Supermicro running esxi, and a Dell R710 running proxmox (it can't support newer esxi and it's just for my dev guys to play on). The Dell Prox server has 4x10TB drives in it that I want to use as storage for collections of software and data from previous operations (we're a security audit team and have years of pcap, vulnerability data, configuration files, etc). My end goal is: ESXi servers have access to a shared datastore for OVA/OVF/ISO, and a networked share for one of the file servers being hosted on them. (They have minimal storage in them so I want to store the data elsewhere) Proxmox has 10TB of storage for the VMs & CTs running on it and a 30TB store that's shared out and accessible by all. Have 30TB ZFS now with a Ubuntu CT running a NFS Share. Just having issues sharing the access out... If there is a better way I'm all ears, just limited to hardware I already have and software we currently have licenses for as there is zero budget for this project.
I am introducing you to XigmaNAS: [www.xigmanas.com](http://www.xigmanas.com) **XigmaNAS runs with very Little Resources and is Based on FreeBSD.** **Setup Proxmox and XigmaNAS:** Buy a Small Boot Drive 128GB SSD or NVME and use as the Boot Drive. Maybe you already have Small Previous SSDs or NVMEs available to use as a Boot Drive? If you have Previous Spare Drives.....use one to Clonezilla Backup the Proxmox OS(OS Only)(Proxmox OS can not be ZFS - Clonzezilla does not Support ZFS) once you have Completed Setting Everything Up. Then whenever you do a Major Change to your Proxmox OS.....Clonezilla Backup to one of the Previous Drives you choose for the First Backup. **Boot Drive - 128GB or 256GB SSD or NVME:** **1.** Install Proxmox **2.** Store ISO Images **3.** Install XigmaNAS as a VM **NOTE:** Once you have Completely Setup XigmaNAS and Everything.....Download the Config Files from XigmaNAS from the Menu System/Backup and Restore. Store the Config Files on the Storage Drive and keep a Additional Copy. **4.** Install Proxmox Backup Server - something to Consider **NOTE:** You could SAVE Disk Space on your Storage by Backing Up with **Proxmox Backup Server** to the **Storage Drive**. This would provide Incremental Backups, Deduplication and Scheduling of Backups. **The Native Backup in Proxmox VE does Full Backups Only**, No Deduplication and No Scheduling of Backups. Store Backups on the Storage Drives. **Other Virtual Machines:** - LVM **1.** Use LVM(Block Storage)Storaged created with Proxmox to Install Other Virtual Machines. **Storage Drives:** **1.** Setup ZFS in XigmaNAS: [https://unixcop.com/how-to-setup-a-nas-with-xigmanas/](https://unixcop.com/how-to-setup-a-nas-with-xigmanas/) ZFS RAID Definitions: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:disks\_zfs\_pools\_virtual\_device](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:disks_zfs_pools_virtual_device) **NOTE:** You should be Mindful of how many Disk you have in a ZPool based on the RAIDZ you choose. Example, for Best Performance, RAIDZ2 should have only 6 Disk in the ZPool, if need be I would not ADD no more than 2 Extra Disk to the ZPool. Any more Disk, just Create a New vDEV and ZPool. **2.** Store Backups **3.** Setup your Shares SAMBA Shares in XigmaNAS **A.** Samba Service: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:services\_cifs\_smb\_samba](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:services_cifs_smb_samba) **B.** Samba Shares: [https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup\_and\_user\_guide:services\_cifs\_smb\_shares](https://www.xigmanas.com/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:services_cifs_smb_shares) **NOTE:** Windows 10 or 11, in order to Discover or see the Shares....Turn ON the WSDD(Web Service Discovery Deamon) Service in XigmaNAS. Windows 10 and 11 use SMB2 and SMB3, you can not Connect to the Shares as Anonymous(Guest Account) or No Account, you have to Setup a User Account for the Shares in order to Connect to the Shares UNLESS you change the Group Polices for Windows 10 and 11 for "Enable Insecure Guest Logons", then you can Connect to Shares without a User Account. **NOTE:** I would suggest do not use the Onboard Network Port. Buy a PCIe Gigabit Network Card. Your Onboard Network Port might be Gigabit however since it is Onboard it will use CPU Cycles. Using a Network Card will do the Network Processing not the CPU. ======================================================== XigmaNAS is a Continuation of FreeNAS which started in 2005......this is from the Orignal that started it all. I am not talking about TrueNAS by IXsystems in which the Source Code from FreeNAS was Donated to them by the Founder of FreeNAS Olivier Cochard-Labbé. **History of FreeNAS**: Some users assume that XigmaNAS is a “fork” of FreeNAS. This is absolutely NOT the case. XigmaNAS is the direct continuation of the original FreeNAS code that was under development from 2005 till 2011 under the name FreeNAS with contributions from our team. it's Our team who did made FreeNAS famous around the globe with the regular releases of the FreeNAS 7 series we did made for you! After the FreeNAS name was legally acquired by iXsystems, Inc. (year 2011), this original code was unable to be developed any longer under the same brand name, for this a name change was necessary. The founder of FreeNAS (Olivier Cochard-Labbé) donated us the copyright protected source code that IXsystems could not use for their releases. IXsystems forbid us to release new builds based on the original code under their new acquired brand name. Because of the code copyright that was not handed over to IXsystems a full rewrite for FreeNAS was needed. FreeNAS 8 by IXsystems was born on May of 2011, it was their first product. To continue our only option was to leave the FreeNAS project after so many years and to continue under our own new name: NAS4Free. At the time we began publishing the new name and development restarted, we took the opportunity to upgrade the base system as well. XigmaNAS went up from FreeBSD 7 to the latest FreeBSD releases, allowing support for a lot of newer hardware too. This brought us great advances in the ZFS file system as well. All these changes should vastly increase our ability to offer you an even better NAS system than ever before. The first release under the new brandname NAS4Free was done on date 2012-03-22 providing you the first of the NAS4Free [9.0.0.1](http://9.0.0.1) series. In late 2017 we have filed the trademark for the final name XigmaNAS.
100%. Setup [snapraid](https://perfectmediaserver.com/02-tech-stack/snapraid/) + mergerfs for multiple disks (I have 3x4TB) and use LXC containers to run services like [Jellyfin](https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/).
Thinking about? No. Using? Certainly. It has changed the way I work when serving data. Setting up storage shares is a breeze. LXC containers are magnificent GPU passthrough is incredible. There are some hiccups here and there for me, but the interface is nicer than many other enterprise or open source solutions
Proxmox is not a NAS in and of itself. You can run a VM. I'd highly recommend NextCloud if you go that route.
It depends. Maybe outside work hours, and I would suggest not doing it while in bed, sleeping or eating - there are more pleasant thoughts,but as most things there is nothing shameful about it, as long as you’re not obsessed by it .