Selecting the ideal components for your file-sharing and data archival workloads is pretty important when you’re planning to build a NAS. However, the file system, caching tools, and software-based backup provisions are just as important as the underlying hardware. Luckily, the NAS ecosystem has several cool distributions designed to help you make the most of your storage server, ranging from FOSS operating systems to their premium, licensed counterparts.
Over the course of my home lab journey, I’ve tinkered with a handful of NAS-centric operating systems. Although each OS has its own perks and quirks, some of them are definitely worth checking out once you’ve put together your storage server.
EasyNAS
It really lives up to its name
When you’re a newcomer to the NAS ecosystem, the menu-driven interfaces and their barrage of tabs, options, and toggles can seem rather intimidating. The obscure EasyNAS comes in real handy here, as it lets you deploy a fully-functional storage server from its simple, icon-based interface. Instead of hiding them behind a convoluted set of menus, all the essential NAS services, including user settings, network share options, and storage volumes, are laid out in EasyNAS’ Dashboard.
Under the hood, EasyNAS features Btrfs, so you get snapshots, compression provisions, Copy-on-Write technology, and other facilities offered by the file system. Plus, EasyNAS also lets you tinker with JBOD and basic RAID levels for your volumes, so you can put your spare drives to good use. By default, the distro includes NFS and SMB shares, though you can also arm it with iSCSI, FTP, TFTP, and other protocols using certain add-ons.
EasyNAS doesn’t have as many killer features as the rest of the options on this list, but the real issue is that it hasn’t been updated in a long time. The last major release, version 1.1.2, was released back in September 2023. While it’s not a dealbreaker if you want a simple NAS that gets the job done, the lack of security updates makes it somewhat vulnerable if you expose your storage server to the Internet.
XigmaNAS
For a minimalist FreeBSD experience
FreeBSD distributions may not be as popular as their Linux counterparts, but they’ve become surprisingly useful these days. This notion extends to the NAS ecosystem as well, with XigmaNAS being a killer FreeBSD distro for folks who prefer the all-power ZFS file system. It’s also fairly easy to set up, and while its web UI can take a while to get accustomed to, XigmaNAS includes a plethora of options to help you customize every aspect of your SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and AFS shares.
XigmaNAS also has Rsync and Syncthing built into the distro, so you can not only back up essential data to remote servers, but also synchronize files between multiple clients. Technically, XigmaNAS also supports virtualization and containerization, though its reliance on phpVirtualBox for VMs and CLI commands for jails (which are FreeBSD’s version of containers) leaves a lot to be desired.
Rockstor
A rock-solid distro for Btrfs lovers
Switching back to Linux distributions, Rockstor has a couple of neat points in its favor. To preserve your data’s integrity, Rockstor ships with Btrfs and includes snapshots, backups, and the ability to clone existing shares. Its interface is a lot more accessible than the one on XigmaNAS, and you even get a sleek SNMP-powered resource monitor on your Rockstor dashboard.
Thanks to its Docker plugins (or Rock-ons, as the distro calls them), Rockstor makes deploying containerized environments fairly easy. It also supports Tailscale right out-of-the-box, making it easy to control your NAS even from remote locations.
OpenMediaVault
Perfect for underpowered devices
Most of the NAS-centric operating systems require an x86 CPU, with ZFS-powered distros requiring extra RAM to keep up with the file system’s memory-hogging tendencies. OpenMediaVault is an exception, as this neat distro not only works with Arm processors but also requires as little as 1GB memory.
Without any modifications, OMV supports Btrfs (alongside other file systems), includes user management provisions, and lets you set up SMB and NFS shares, making it a solid option for budget-friendly file-sharing servers. However, its utility goes to the next level once you start looking into the massive list of add-ons compatible with the distro. Throw in the iSCSI, KVM, Docker, Rsnapshot, backup, and ZFS add-ons, and you’ve got a powerful OpenMediaVault server that can hold its own against the all-powerful TrueNAS. Speaking of…
TrueNAS
The de-facto king of NAS distros
TrueNAS Community Edition (or rather, Scale, as it was called back in the day) is one of the most popular operating systems in the NAS community, and for good reason. Built on ZFS, TrueNAS supports multiple RAID levels and delivers terrific performance in file transfer workloads across NFS, SMB, and iSCSI shares. With its periodic snapshots, Rsync capabilities, scrub tasks, S.M.A.R.T. tests, and compatibility with numerous cloud platforms, TrueNAS’ data protection features are also second to none.
That’s before you include the powerful virtualization features under its belt. Managing virtual machines is a cakewalk on TrueNAS, and since the OS relies on KVM, you can expect solid performance in your VM-heavy workloads. Likewise, the distro includes hundreds of useful applications you can run as containers, and you can even self-host unsupported services using their YAML configurations. If you’re willing to grab an x86 processor and at least 8GB (ideally, twice or even thrice that amount) of memory, you won’t be disappointed by TrueNAS.
Arm your storage server with a powerful NAS distro
Aside from the options I’ve mentioned so far, there are a couple of other operating systems worth checking out. If you’re a Linux veteran and want a barebones setup featuring only the essential NAS packages, you can go for a CLI Debian server. While a bare-metal setup is always better, you can use any of the distros from the list inside Proxmox-based VMs and expect solid performance, provided you pass the SATA/HBA controller to the virtual machine.
Keen-eyed readers may have noticed that I didn’t mention the uber-popular Unraid even once. While it’s undoubtedly an amazing platform for your storage server, its paid license doesn’t jive well with me. Call me a cheapskate if you must, but I’m not a big fan of recommending operating systems whose lifetime license can cost half as much as a powerful NAS.