Questions about OMV. Is it the right NAS distro for me?

Hi,

I have searched and read on a lot of forums and blogs so far. My goal is to find the optimal NAS Distro that will fit my needs.
So far, I have used FreeNAS that has been quite stable with my build. The problem with FreeNAS is that I think I don't really have a choice but to use ZFS since it was optimized for it, but my RAM isn't ECC.
FreeNAS with ZFS filesystem also requires a minimum of 8GB of RAM which is the maximum I can have with my present build. If I am mistaking in what I am saying you can correct me, as in I am new to BSD and Linux and the filesystems they use. What I like with FreeNAS though, is the fact that I can setup Jails and host my own website on an emulated FreeBSD. I am also new to that, but so far it worked and I could setup a test site on Wordpress.

To be more precise here is my hardware configuration and a small list of my interrogations.

Hardware configuration (This is what I can afford, I can't change anything about it)
-Motherboard: Intel DQ35JOE (6 SATA connections)
-CPU: Intel QuadCore 2.4GHZ Q6600
-RAM: 8GB
-3 HDDs 3TB 1X(WD RED) 2X(Seagate Barracuda)
-3 HDDs 2TB 1X(WD RED) 2X(WD GREEN with the idle problem fixed)
-SanDisk USB Cruzer Blade 16GB

My interrogations on OMV are:
-Can I install it on a USB stick or on an IDE HDD? All 6 available SATA are already in use. I mean, from what I read I know it is possible but what would be the major drawbacks? FreeNAS runs well on a USB stick why wouldn't OMV?
-What filesystem would be the best to use if I want to set 2 RAID5s for a total of 10TB of available storage. Is it possible to set this up using OMV? Can I set RAIDs with different HDD brands like I can with FreeNAS? In the future, I will replace all the drives for WD REDs, but for the time being my budget doesn't allow me that luxury.
-What is the best filesystem to use if my RAM isn't ECC? With FreeNAS(ZFS), using NON ECC RAM could be potentially fatal. I don't care about losing performance if it's to gain on reliability regarding the build that I have. I know ZFS is not available on OMV and this is one of the reason why I am considering it.
-Can I set up a web server using OMV? Here, I am not asking for details, I just want to know if it could be possible.

Thank you.

Thank you for the fast replies!

@subzero79

Zitat

Yes you can, but OMV is installed as system in RW mode, and your USB will suffer then from multiple RW, thus increasing wearing level. IDE is fine, little bit old and maybe slow. If you have a spare PCIe try a cheap SSD. Thought I am not sure if it will boot. or you can partition one of your disk for OS, the remaining partition will still be usable by OMV

I read that if the usb stick uses static wear leveling, the RW mode of the system won't affect its lifespan. The only problem is that, after searching the net, I come to the conclusion that the different usb manufacturer don't obviously state it on their products characteristics. So far I couldn't find a link with a list of verified USB Drives that come with this static wear leveling.

If I go for the IDE option, I would like to know if it could affect the transfer rate on my network(1Gbit/s) ? If not, I'll surely go IDE. Technically, I don't think it could because, if I take into account that USB2 transfer rate is ~ 60 MB/s and that the IDE one is ~ 133MB/s, and that with FreeNAS installed on the USB Drive I was able to transfer at a comfortable speed of ~ 100MB/s on my network, it means that the Drive speed on which the NAS OS is installed isn't a bottleneck for the network transfer rate. If I am correct, the only thing it could affect is the loading time when I start the machine?

Zitat

Yes you can, there is Nginx plugin that allows extra websites. Apache2 was left behind after the 1.0 release.

Feel free to ask, I've been using OMV since 0.2 version after being frustrated with freenas by my NIC driver that wasn't available by the time. Also is much more flexible, you have the whole Debian software repo. Also to said that is Debian based so is very stable

Ok, so if I read you right, that means that Apache is not an option on OMV? I got used to work with this one, but it doesn't really matter as long as there are other options. I will keep in mind your offer and will PM you when I will be at the point where I need to setup my web server. Thank you!

@KM0201

Zitat

If you don't want to go the IDE route, you could also get an SSD and a 2.5in enclosure... it would work fine and solve your internal sata problem. USB flash drives.. there's just to much disk writing for most flash disks. FreeNas works because most writing is done to RAM, vs being done to the disk.

Thank you for your suggestion, the SSD enclosure could also be an option.

Zitat

Since you don't want ZFS.. just use ext4 as your filesystem... it'll be fine for your needs.

Is there a reason why you put more dots? Should I want more to go ZFS? Even if it means that with NON ECC RAM I take the risk of losing all my data if an error occurs? What I read is that the lack of recovery tools for the ZFS filesystem makes it very costly if something was to happen. The fact is, if I would like to go ZFS, I should build my system with recent hardware and not old spare parts. This is the main reason I don't think FreeNAS is made for me. With every new releases, the minimum requirements go up and up... I think that this is ridiculous and that you don't need to have the last up to date computer to run a stable NAS. I don't think that my build is that bad when compared to NAS solutions offered by the manufacturers in the market.
So... To go back to the main subject, ext4, if something was to happen, is there accessible ways to recover my date with this filesystem? This is my main concern.

Again, thank you for the fast replies, this is really appreciated.

Hi again!
So far wow, yep wow!
1. The community here seems way more friendly than the FreeNAS one!
2 I love how OMV is more user friendly also!

I decided to go IDE since I had an old IDE WD 120GB that I bought years ago and never used. It is like new, so I don't think I'll have trouble with it for a time. The installation went smoothly and I love the extra information given during the step by step install.

So far I didn't transfer my data, still testing and going through the different options.

I have one question though, on a NAS using this OS, is it better to have more cores or a faster CPU clock speed? Like choosing between a Q6600(QUAD 2.4GHZ) or an E2500(Dual 3.16GHZ)? I opted for the Q6600.

Thank's

Zitat

Both CPUs are neither really low in the TDP spec nor do they have a good idle wattage

Well, I guess I am lucky to live where the electricity bill is low, Quebec. I did not really take the electricity cost into account in the build because I used spare parts. Although, minus the TDP and idle wattage, I think that both CPUs should be performing well enough regarding my needs. I guess that I'll just swap them if I see that a faster clock speed is needed.

I have other questions. It's about the permissions and the way to deal with them. I'm aware that it's probably one of the most popular subject that noobs post about so I searched the forum and read different threads about it. Then I decided to go read about how permissions work under Unix/Linux systems. I got a pretty good idea of how it works, but I would like to ask if the way I intend to deal with them is ok.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ABOUT HOW IT WORKS:
-I should always use the WebGUI to create groups and users or modify the permissions?
-I have to create different shared folders to use different services even if they point to the same destination?
-I shouldn't even click on ACLs and, if I do, never change anything in there?

OWNER:
-I intend to leave the ownership of all the shared folders i will create to the default USER except for the different user directories. Here, I would like to know if, by default, with the home directory option enabled, the ownership of the home directory is set to the USER?

GROUPS:
-I intend to use 2 GROUPS: users and admins.
-The GROUP users will only be set on the public folder where all USERS can read write and execute the files it contains no matter who created it in the first place.
-The GROUP admins will be set on all the other shared folders created and will be given read write and execute.

OTHERS:
-I intend to give OTHERS read and execute only on all the shared folders created.
-This way, if I understand the linux permissions correctly, the USERS that are not part of the admins GROUP should be able to have access without being able to modify anything. (Example, I want to share a movie library that only USERS that are part of the admins GROUP can modify.)

GUEST:
-Is it possible to create an account that won't need any password? Like the occasional friend who comes to my place and logs onto my network. The GUEST account will be part of the users GROUP. This way I don't have to create a new account for occasional USERS.

Thank you!

Sorry, I edited it many times and now I'm wondering if I should just make a new thread with it.

Zitat von davidh2k

I don't do this, but I know tekkbebe Suggest this. This could be helpfull if you want to have different permissions in each service. (This does not affect filesystem permissions, those would be the same irrelevant if you use two shared folders or one.) -> I would'nt go through that hassle myself.

In my case, regardless of the service or the OS used to access the shared folders, the users should have the same permissions. If I follow this logic, I will set multiple services on my different shared folders.
There is one thing I would like to clarify, the filesystem permissions vs the OMV users' permissions. When I click on "Privileges" option of a shared folder under "Access Rights Management" and change it, it only affects the users when they try to access it on the network, but not locally? I mean, if I were to log on directly on the machine with one of the users, I'd have different permissions over the files? Can you point to something I can read to better understand this concept? To add to what I just said, the only time where I can set the filesystem permissions on the WebGUI is when I create the shared folders? To what should I set them to make it secure? Leave them to default? It gives read/write permissions to all the users.

Zitat von davidh2k

Oh, and don't use shared Folders inside Shared Folders...

I was planning to create a main shared folder named data and then fill it with other shared folders for easy access to all the files by a user who is part of the admins group. Why isn't it recommended?

Zitat von davidh2k

Well you can't change it via GUI... so... correct. They are owned by root:users

Ahhhhh... So I have to set it up using privileges... but the folder will still be owned by root:users. By example, even if the shared folder media is owned by root:users on the filesystem, only the group admins will be able to read/write and the users that are not part of it will be considered like others with read access. All of that has to be set up using privileges and, if no privileges are set for a certain user, it will rely on the default filesystem permissions. It's like going through a funnel with the cone, representing the different set of rules (privileges and services), being on top of the pipe, representing the basic rules (filesystem permissions) in case none are set ahead. Is my analogy correct?

Thank's a lot!