I have been using a NAS running TrueNAS for a couple of weeks now. From the App GUI for setting up Docker containers, which I genuinely despise, to the removal of SMART tests in the new version, I don’t think this was a good call. So I’m thinking I might as well DIY it, although if you believe that may be a questionable idea, feel free to mention that!
Because of that, I am looking at Debian, as it seems to be the standard server OS, and I have used it a little before. I have light server administration experience, although not a lot, and no specific knowledge of how to optimize one to act as a NAS. I am, however, reasonably familiar with Linux in general.
- How do I optimize Debian for NAS use?
- What utilities should I install that provide system info, allow for network shares, and so on?
- Are there things that TrueNAS did that I may be unaware of and should also set up for myself on Debian?
- Do you have any tips and suggestions for what I should install in addition to that? Maybe some power optimization tools or useful dashboard software?
- Can I just wipe the OS drive, put Debian on there, and then mount my pool once Debian is set up for ZFS, or does TrueNAS do anything special to the filesystem? If not, how should I migrate the existing data? (Mostly videos, pictures, documents, and a Home Assistant setup)
- What are good resources to find help with Debian server administration?
- Are there any issues with Nvidia? If so, how do I fix them? I have an old Nvidia GPU in the NAS for video encoding since my CPU doesn’t have an iGPU.
- Are there common pitfalls in this for people with little experience like me?
I’d be glad to get some info on these topics to know if this is a reasonable idea or if I should just stick with what I have.
Here’s one more opinion for you.
Running a NAS on Debian is a great idea if you don’t mind being responsible for all of the details that TrueNAS abstracts away. One thing I’d consider in your shoes is to use Proxmox VE rather than vanilla Debian. I say this because PVE uses a kernel with ZFS built in, so there’s no fiddling with DKMS to get it to work; it just treats it as a first-class file system (including on root). Having said that, either is a perfectly good choice.
If you want a UI, I’d heartily recommend Cockpit, which is included in the repos (just
apt install cockpit). If you go the PVE way, you’ve got a couple options. You could either virtualize your existing TrueNAS, passing through the disks or (and this is my preference) let the host handle all the ZFS stuff and create an LXC container that just deals with filesharing. You’d bindmount a directory from the host that could be shared out via SMB and this is where I’d use Cockpit to manage the shares.The PVE route makes adding VMs and containers pretty quick. I haven’t run into any issues passing through a GPU to either a VM or LXC, which can then be used inside a docker container.
In answer to the common pitfalls question, I think the biggest thing I see is that it’s important to document exactly what TrueNAS is doing for you. Did you encrypt the ZFS pool? Make sure you have the keys to unlock it and arrange for your next OS to do so gracefully. Are you managing snapshots and replication in TrueNAS? Document and adapt that. Something like sanoid/syncoid can manage this on a Debian system. How about monitoring? Don’t forget to set up notifications for disk failures. Any other services you’re using? NFS, iSCSI, cronjobs? Take care notes of everything because that’s the stuff that’ll be easy to miss if you jump straight to overwriting your old boot disk.