I own my very first NAS about 10 years ago – Synology DS110J, a very entry-level NAS for a beginner like me at that time. No hassle setup, basically everything just plug-and-use.
I have learned a lot of things from the whole experience: Networking, SMB, FTP, basic shell, multimedia streaming, and so on. And it did bring a lot of joy to me, which let me feel I’m really good at these IT technologies. Slowly… I continue to learn more and more from my life and career. I will say it’s one of my learning motivations actually.
After years of using Synology DS110J (around 2015), I felt it’s insufficient for me in terms of storage and the customization I want for my home media server setup. And most importantly is that I have some extra money to spend that time. =D
Basically, I purchased all components (CPU, motherboard, RAM, and hard disk) and assemble them myself. In the beginning, I choose to run Ubuntu Server on it, which I was already familiar with during my learning journey. But after a few weeks of using it, I felt it was not something that I want. After that, I did some researches. And finally, I found FreeNAS (something new for me to learn that time=D).
Indeed, jumping to FreeNAS at that time was a bit challenging for me. Because both Linux and FreeBSD sound identical, but technically they are totally different things. I did a few fatal mistakes that cause my whole setup to not be secured and put my files at risk of data loss.
But the good thing is: I did improve a lot again from the entire experience. I’m able to use FreeNAS to set up my home media server that I what. And I truly enjoy having it in my life. =)
Until now, I’m using TrueNAS (you can think it’s renamed from FreeNAS) as my primary NAS storage in my home network. I did the “upgrade” recently, that’s why I planned to write a post which to share my setup.
Basically, the purposes of this TrueNAS in my house:
1. Plex: service to stream my movies
2. Transmission: torrent downloader
3. Nextcloud: sharing my files with friends
4. WordPress backup: with UpdraftPlus S3 support.
5. Mac timemachine: dedicated backup storage for my mac.
6. AdGuardHome: replacement for PiHole. I found it recently.
Soon, I’ll slowly share the setup for the individual service running in my TrueNAS instance here. Stay tuned. =)
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