Hi there,
my name is Ralph. Currently we are using FreeNAS in our small business environment but as I'm more familiar with Linux I was looking for a similar linux-based solution.
OMV seems to be what I need but the version chaos leaves me a bit perplexed. OMV5 beta seems to be in the wild forever. News on the website are mostly meant for OMV4 but also for OMV5 and 6(!?!). When I check the download section OMV4 and OMV5 (the version without beta) download numbers are almost equal. So I have read a lot in the forum and found different statements regarding the current state of the project. Somewhere I found the statement (from last summer) that OMV5 will be out right after Debian 10.1. As Debian 10.3 came out two weeks ago this info might be outdated but as there are beta and non-beta versions of OMV5 in the download section in parallel I'm not so sure of my conclusion. At the same time most users in forum give advice to install OMV5 while OMV5 being labeled as being beta here ...
We all know the joke of open source software never getting 'final' but as most of the news on the website still covering OMV4 I have the strong feeling that the project leaders still recommend this version for stable operation. My problem is now that I'm in search for a stable AND long term replacement for our FreeNAS. 'Stable' pushes me towards OMV4 but I have absolutely no idea how long this will be supported. When I clicked back in the website news I found that OMV3 was EOL on the same day when OMV4 final came out. For OMV5 this might be tomorrow or in three years if developers play the 'never getting final' game.
Somewhere else on the forum I found the statement that OMV5 will be out 'as soon as possible' but no mention which conditions have to be fulfilled for that. So while most users recommend OMV5 there still seem to be broken parts that have to be fixed before getting official.
I'm at a loss. Would some official person please give me advice what do do now? Is this OMV5 beta thing just the usual open source joke but in fact this is the recommended stable version? Or should I go with OMV4 for my production systems? But whats the expected EOL for OMV4? Sure there will be an upgrade path but experience has taught me that major upgrades almost always cause hidden problems that take a lot of time to find and fix. If possible I would like to avoid this.
Ralph