Simple answer, LOTS!! Here is a braindump for starters (in increasing order of technical complexity):
- A file server - you can read and write directories/folders and files just like the disk(s) on your PC, just over the network.
- A media server - you can store your camera images, your home videos, your ripped / downloaded music collection, TV series and films, your copy of Uncle Fester's porn video of Thing attempting to pleasure itself or whatever, and you can watch these from your smart TV or your mobile phone etc.
- Other application servers - databases, network management software, etc. etc.
- Run other server operating systems (so called virtualisation).
- A disk server - your PCs sees disks across the network (using a protocol called iSCSI) rather than folders and files.
- …
Uncle Fester's Beginners Guide is (surprise!!!) for beginners and amateurs (which is not meant negatively, but rather to distinguish home and small business DIY users from IT professionals who specialise and are trained in TrueNAS and ZFS) and is NOT going to cover the later, more advanced items in the above list. We will cover 1. and 2. in detail because this is core functionality that lots of people use, and also the few bits of 3. that don't require extensive technical knowledge, and we will cover the remainder in overview so that you know what they do but you will need to research elsewhere to get the fine details.
So, lets look in more detail at what TrueNAS can do for you…
¶ What can you store on it?
Before you can plan on what you need, you have to decide what you are going to use your NAS for. For Home / Small Business users (which we expect most readers of this wiki to be), here is a brain dump of possible uses that you can select from (or add to) in order to get you started…
- Holding the primary copy of all the shared family / small business files currently held on individual PCs.
- Holding backup copies of all your individual personal files currently held on individual PCs.
- Backing up the photos (or other data) on your mobile phones
- Holding system image backups of the operating systems on your individual PCs so that you can easily restore the entire operating system (with applications) if you get a hard disk failure without rebuilding from scratch.
- Holding your media library of films and TV series to watch on your smart TV (or TV stick/box) for streaming using Plex or Jellyfin.
- If you have Ubiquiti or TP-Link network equipment, acting as a network manager.
- …
Because it can be difficult (or even so difficult as to be impossible) to decide to do more with it at a later date, requiring you to add more storage, you should think widely about what you will use it for and then plan accordingly.
The remainder of this wiki page is going to introduce you to the various ways that you can access and store (i.e. read and write) data on your TrueNAS server from all of your various client devices. We are not going to go into any real technical or implementation details at this point ("thank goodness for that" says Morticia who has a VERY low boredom threshold indeed - Wednesday rolls her eyes, because she is world-savvy enough to know that sooner or later we are going to have to get technical), but we do want to give you an picture of how your TrueNAS server can be accessed by all your devices:
- Windows PCs
- Linux and Mac PCs
- Android Phones and Tablets
- Smart TVs and speakers
- … (if we have missed anything, please add it)
¶ Windows and Mac PCs
Windows and Mac PCs typically share data using a Folder & File sharing protocol called SMB and TrueNAS supports this protocol pretty well as standard. If you are a windows user, it is quite likely that you have used this either using UNCs (which start with a double-back-slash “\\”) or by mapping NAS folders to drive letters.
When one Windows system shares folders and files with another windows system, they work together automatically to share user names and security privileges. TrueNAS is based on Linux, so there will be some work to translate Windows user names and security permissions into Linux ones, and when we get to the implementation sections and cover this in detail, then hopefully we will be able to take you through this step-by-step.
Summary: You can easily access and store folders and files from Windows and Mac systems to TrueNAS over a LAN.
¶ Linux PCs
Linux PCs typically share data interactively using a Folder and File sharing protocol called NFS and TrueNAS supports this protocol pretty well as standard. If you are a Linux or Mac user, it is reasonably likely (but not certain) that you have used this protocol before (typically by accessing folders and files mounted at /mnt/*.
Additionally there are several other technologies used for more scripted or batch transmission of files between Linux systems, such as FTP and rsync. TrueNas supports FTP as standard and rsync through an app.
Summary: You can easily access and store folders and files from Linux systems to TrueNAS over a LAN.
¶ Android Phones and Tablets
It is far less typical for Andoid Phones and Tablets to share folders and files interactively with a NAS, but with the right client software this is possible using one of the above protocols.
However, if you want to take advantage of it, it can be quite easy to use your NAS to backup your personal files (such as e.g. photos) from your phone or tablet to your TrueNAS server when you are charging it at your home location, using a an app called Syncthing.
Summary: You can also access and store folders and files from Android tablets and phones using the right client software, or you can backup your personal data from these devices to TrueNAS using an app called SyncThing.
¶ Smart TVs and speakers
Smart TVs and Smart Speakers typically only want to access data on your NAS, typically by streaming it, and don't normally want to store new data on the NAS (though if you really need to it is probably possible).
Streaming media files from your NAS to your smart media device is typically done using matching apps on your smart device and on the NAS: apps such as Plex, Jellyfin, Kodi etc. that you may have heard of.
Summary: TrueNAS is an excellent server on which to store and stream e.g. music or videos to your smart devices using matching apps at both ends.
¶ Links
| Previous - 1.1 So you think you want or need a NAS… | Index | Next - 1.3 Which version of TrueNAS? |