I agree, the acronym NAS does indeed mean that.

But would you call a Hypervisor a NAS?

When I say NAS, I mean NAS. Bulk storage remotely accessible on the network.

When someone starts talking about all their VMs/Containers, I understand that to mean something else… I’d prefer to use a generic term like “server” instead.

Look, there’s 2 things here:

• NAS - meaning storage

and

• NAS - meaning a virtualisation / container server that’s doing lots of fairly random disk access

Which are you wanting?

For the first, just consider capacity (you’ll fill it) and noise (spinning away all night)

For the 2nd, really really consider SSDs as they’re silent and fast.

RAID1 is just a convenience factor, so whatever you do, don’t get too caught up in the drive mechanics as you’ll have a full backup (right?) and can restore your data at a moment’s notice.

Honestly, honestly, just go for something large & quiet and you’ll be fine.

And yes, SSD for the OS

+10 for keeping notes.

Yep, even that temporary thing, write it down. Usernames & passwords go in KeePass - with descriptive notes in there too

You should check out Ansible

I run multiple Arch systems at home; laptops, NAS, media, etc. but I’d recommend a Debian based OS for a new starter… unless they’re really, really keen to learn how everything works.

For inspiration, take a look at the Nextcloud Devices - just for the hardware ideas.

I’m still running a Nextcloud Box (with the original Western Digital drive) and it’s fine for my needs.

Yep, numbering’s the key.

When you create NAS01, you know there’s going to be a NAS02 one day

Yep, seen a similar thing with servers…

A few years ago I built up a system with ~ 20 servers. Powered them all up and did all the RAID initialisation (RAID5 across 6-8 disks per server IIRC)

One server basically needed all it’s disks replacing and some of the others needed a disk or 2 replaced - within a month!

Since replacing those disks and building all those arrays I’m happy to build a NAS / server, let it bed-in for a while and if nothing fails I’ll just keep powering up & down my NAS as needed and I’ll run the drives until they die…

Documentation & comments… the most underated part of any system

Be brave enough to test my backups

I can recommend pfSense.

It uses a single config file and upgrades are painless.

If you need to restore the system (I had a drive failure once), just boot up the installer, supply your config file (ie on the same stick) and it will re-install everything just as it was.

Checkout openmediavault they develop on some sbcs so the forum should be helpful

Maybe it’s a regional thing… cal defaults to starting on a Monday for me

I think 90% of the comments here are “write your own notes“ - which is possibly over simplistic.

Everyone’s different but IMHO:

The brain is better for imagination than long term storage. So if you’re stuck trying to remember some obscure command(s), it’s just better to use something else to store that on.

But when the brain understands the core concepts well enough, the details come together as habits (where repetition comes in).

So, if you’re unable to recall something, take some time to think / remind yourself about the underlying concepts and why that’s the command - next time it’ll be easier, eventually it’ll be effortless.

I had to learn some strange concepts for work during a deep technical troubleshooting session on a client’s system and the commands were like just facemashing the keyboard… I’ve no idea what those commands are now (written down), but I can recall what / why I was doing them and that was the key… for me.

(Using computers since '80s)

I’ve gotta agree here that passwords - (and encryption) - should be optional.

Xfce4-terminal has the quake style drop down mode?

(rushes off to try it)

Ooh didn’t know that…

(rushes off to try it)

Kinda not really answering your question but Arch’s AUR often needs to compile something from source - so the benefit for me is: just having the absolute latest version running, so if there’s a bug I can report it and help the package become better.

And in 5 years time it might be in Debian stable… /s

IMHO, separate duties… have a NAS for storage and a separate device for “stuff”

And again, IMHO, don’t buy proprietary.

I built my own (Arch linux based) NAS based on an ASRockRack mobo so it has IPMI for remote management and I can power it on /off from Home Assistant.

I’ve setup my NAS to power up in the morning and off later in the day if it’s not in use (based on CPU, I/O, network, etc). It has multiple syncthing daemons running for each person to sync their files from phones and laptops and also has SMB (v3) shares. All on btrfs.

I have a completely separate, low power passively cooled device for Home Assistant, UptimeKuma, Smokeping, Ansible, etc - currently as Proxmox VMs, but I’m considering moving away from that.

Yeah agreed. I know everyone has different issues, but I do think there’s a presumption that because you don’t have to pay anything then that means you just don’t pay…

Please contribute however you can people 👍🏻