An overview of the operating system options that can be used for home (for nas and application servers).
CasaOS
- for some reason, they think that the application can only be run in one container
- there is no support for multiple servers
- they don’t care about installing the OS itself
- don’t care about user data (snapshots? backups? our users don’t need this)
- for some reason, some applications are embedded directly into the OS
Umbrel
- some kind of dubious past (and present?): crypt and Tor lovers
- there is no support for multiple servers
- they don’t care about installing the OS itself
- don’t care about user data
- try to fix applications to make a single authorization
NethServer
- the system is designed for small and medium-sized businesses, i.e. one level more complex than SOHO (small office and home office)
- they don’t care about installing the OS itself
- there are very few applications in the catalog (10-20) and they are focused on business, not home (but the main home application – Nextcloud – is)
TrueNAS Scale
- works well as a NAS
- runs applications on local single-node Kubernetes (inefficient)
- the applications themselves are poorly supported - I had to delete them with data loss, something doesn’t start at all, etc. - still, it feels like it’s for corporate use, not for home (it’s a bit complicated)
Traditional distributors
- they just don’t target the home server segment – there is no web gui to install and configure
- and many other details
Commercial NAS for Home
- they are the closest in functionality, but they are tied to their hardware
- it’s hard to see exactly what’s inside without buying a piece of hardware
So there is quite a place for a Linux home server distribution.
NAS distributors
A separate list of distributors for NAS:
- [TrueNAS Scale](https://www.truenas.com /) – good, but too much for home (it focuses on enterprise). For example, applications run in a single-node Kubernetes cluster, which itself, without any load, already loads the system (and fans).
- [UNRAID](https://unraid.net /) – paid (inexpensive), and so on the 2nd place.
- [OpenMediaVault](https://www.openmediavault.org /) – ugly, but it probably works
- [EasyNAS](https://easynas.org /) – it looks simple and everything is there
- [Openfiler](https://www.openfiler.com /) – it doesn’t seem to be very good, but maybe someone will like it
- U-NAS – paid (inexpensive), screenshots are beautiful
The New Year holidays are approaching – there is something to try ;).