Freenas is an open-source FreeBSD-based operating system based on the ZFS file system. It is designed to be an ideal server OS for hosting web applications, databases, mail servers, etc.
Unraid is a hybrid of FreeNAS and OpenMediaVault.
Freenas is a free, open-source operating system based on FreeBSD. It’s designed to be an alternative to other virtualization software such as Hyper-V or Vmware ESXi.
Freenas offers several benefits including support for SATA disks, SSD caching, disk replication, ZFS file systems, and much more.
It also supports iSCSI storage devices and network storage protocols such as NFSv4, CIFS, SMB2/3, AFP, and Windows File Share Protocol (WFP).
UnRAID is a free, open-source virtualization solution that allows administrators to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously within a single physical server.
UnRAID is built on FreeBSD and includes powerful features such as live migration, RAID, snapshots, LVM, KVM, and QEMU.
I use and love both Freenas and Unraid. Both are very powerful and feature-rich.
FreeNAS vs. UnRAID: What are the Differences? | ITEnterpriser
Storage Handling
When it comes down to it, storage management is pretty straightforward. There is nothing complicated here.
Here are some tips:
Different storage devices: Hard drive, Solid-state drive, USB stick, SD card, optical disc, and even paper documents!
RAID 0: This helps improve reliability by allowing several HDDs or SSDs to work together as one large volume.
Use RAID 1: When you set up RAID1, it creates mirroring copies of your data across two separate volumes meaning that if anything goes wrong with either volume, the other volume will take over seamlessly without losing any data.
Create Partitions:
Partitions allow us to break our HDD or SSD into smaller sections called “sectors,” each containing 512 bytes worth of information.
Backup Your Data:
Backup your data often to ensure that you won’t ever be caught off guard should disaster strike. Backups may seem cumbersome, but they are necessary.
It’s best to use an automated system such as Time Machine or Windows Live Sync. Also, consider investing in cloud solutions such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, Microsoft SkyDrive, or OneDrive.
Other options include creating snapshots of your server periodically if there is an issue with updates/patches, upgrades, or new software versions.
These snapshots will help restore your server quickly in case there is an upgrade failure.
A good option would be to create daily snapshot images of both your OS & applications.
Another helpful tool is to keep track of changes made to specific areas of your disk drive. The free version of WinDirStat does this very well.
Common FreeNAS and UnRAID Advantages
Security Management
Both Freenas and Unraid offer security through encryption mechanisms, making them ideal for businesses who require secure online access and confidential communications.
Encryption protects sensitive files from being accessed when stored in public networks like the internet and makes sure all emails sent via email servers remain private.
If you’re looking to store personal files at home, then using encrypted drives might not be the right choice because anyone could potentially gain unauthorized access to these files.
But for business users who need secure online access and confidential communication, having secured drives is critical.
For example, I have my home NAS connected to VPN, so no one has direct access to what lies inside. And since everything in my home NAS stays encrypted.
only those I give permission to have full access to read, edit, modify and delete files. In addition, encrypting drives means that nobody else can see what we do while working remotely.
Performance Monitoring
Both Freenas & UnRAId provide great performance monitoring tools. With both platforms, you’ll get detailed statistics about how your server performs during boot time, shutdown times, memory usage, CPU utilization, etc.
You can monitor real-time activity, capture screenshots, view graphs, charts, and records. Both platforms have similar user interfaces and easy ways of accessing these details.
For instance, Freenas provides a graphical interface where you can manage storage pools, add/remove hard drives, and configure advanced settings.
Common FreeNAS and UnRAID Disadvantages
It depends on your needs whether you want to opt for FreeNAS or UnRAid. Some people prefer using RAID 0 arrays, whereas others prefer non-redundant setups.
However, if you plan to store large amounts of data, it is advisable to go for redundant configurations. That way, even if any component fails, other components continue functioning normally.
Another disadvantage of FreeNAS is its limited number of features compared to UnRAids.
While FreeNAS gives you enough space to install programs, customize OS and network settings, and backup important documents.
UnRAids come loaded with several extra features, including hardware-accelerated video transcoding capabilities, remote control functionality, support for more than 20 file systems, built-in web server, eSATA connectivity and much more!
Hardware Support –
Both offer similar hardware compatibility, but there might be specific configurations where one may work better than others.
For example, FreeNAS supports more models while UnRAID has a broader range of supported motherboards.
If you have an older motherboard, then FreeNAS will probably fit best since they don’t require any additional drivers/hardware configuration.
File System Compatibility –
You could use FreeNAS or UnRAID on almost all standard operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, etc.
But when it comes to specific file system formats, only FreeNAS supports ext4 format, which makes this NAS much easier to manage than its counterpart. I’m new to this world, What should I learn first?
Disk Space Usage –
As mentioned earlier, Freenas relies heavily on ZFS, so it doesn’t take up vast amounts of RAM as most other solutions do. But at least once every few weeks, you need to resize the volume to reclaim unused space from deleted files.
Also, keep in mind that any time you delete something from a folder inside the root directory, all directories under that particular folder get emptied as well.
This can result in a significant loss of space if you aren’t careful enough. UnRaided, though, takes up about 2GBs per VM, which isn’t bad considering how many things we install into our VMs nowadays.
Performance –
While Freenas may not perform quite as fast as others due to its reliance, In this video, I will go over why you would want to choose either Freenas or UnRaid in terms of their ability to manage your data with regards to storage.
What Type of Configuration Suits Me?
If you feel comfortable configuring FreeBSD-based operating systems, you probably don’t mind setting up things manually.
On the contrary, if you find it difficult to understand commands and scripts used by Linux distributions, then it isn’t going to work out for you either.
So, before deciding on which platform to choose, think carefully about what kind of experience you already possess and what skills you’ve got.
This way, you’ll know what level of expertise you require and whether you’d rather spend hours tweaking every aspect of your setup.
When to Use FreeNAS and UnRAID?
FreeNAS is the most popular file server in data centers because it’s a simple, easy-to-use storage solution. It can be used as a standalone NAS or your existing network infrastructure for centralized backup and data protection.
UnRAID is another good choice if you want something that works well both on LAN and WAN environments.
This NAS software offers advanced features like RAID 6 support and encryption and other unique options such as remote access through SSH tunneling, web interface, etc.
Which is the Best for Your Storage Needs?
In brief, I would say it depends on what you need from your NAS box. If you want something with a large amount of space at great speed, then go with UnRaid.
It will give you some of the most advanced features in terms of performance and reliability while providing you with lots of space at reasonable speeds.
On the other hand, if you have limited resources but still require high availability, easy backup solutions, scalability, and redundancy, then look no further than FreeNAS! They offer everything an administrator could ever ask for when managing their own NAS infrastructure.
I’m using them side by side on 2x Dell MD3000i blades for my purposes, so four drives in total per array. they were cheap compared to others available at the time.
Currently, I’ve got about 200GB worth of data on each. Initially, I had planned to leave the arrays running 24/7, but I found that after a few months, I wasn’t filling up either of them all that often – so I decided to do backups once every couple of weeks instead.
In brief, here’s what you need to know about each project before deciding which one will suit your requirements better
Unraid vs. Freenas – LinuxServer – Linux Server Tips
In brief, you can create your own custom Linux distribution either from scratch or by using existing distributions like Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, ArchLinux, Mageia, Mint, SolusOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Suse Enterprise Linux, Scientific Linux, Oracle Linux, and many others.
You may want to try out some of these if you have never done so before! These include Gentoo, Slackware, Mandriva, PCLOS, CrunchBang, Sabayon, Mageia, Bodhi Linux, Vectorlinux, Progeny Linux, etc.
Installer guides vary greatly depending upon what type of installation method you choose. With most desktop installers, you boot off of a CD/DVD/USB flash drive or download an ISO image from a website, then follow instructions in the installer guide provided with media.
Some advanced users prefer installing directly to hard drives while maintaining full functionality of their current operating system without re-installing everything.
This requires additional knowledge about partitioning schemes and creating partitions manually during the setup process.
Conclusion
if you need high-performance storage, then go with UnRaid but otherwise, it doesn’t matter which one you choose. They’re both great solutions!
I hope this helps 🙂
Yes, Freenas is indeed better than Unraid in terms of speed. The reason is that Freena uses ZFS, whereas Unraids uses Linux ext4 filesystems.
At the same time, ext4 can do some pretty cool stuff like striping in place, and it is still not nearly fast enough for many workloads.
This is why Freenas was made – it combines the best of Linux with the power of ZFS. So, in short, yes, Freenas will perform faster than Unraid.
Also, note that Freenas does have a paid version called “Freepass,” which is precisely what it sounds like; a freemium version of Freenas.
Freepass adds several enterprise-level features to Freenas, such as hardware redundancy, failover clustering, and encryption capabilities.
If you want something closer to full-blown Virtual Private Server functionality, then I’d suggest giving Freepass a try. Otherwise, stick with Freenas. You’ll save yourself money over time too 😉
And regarding your question about stability… Yes, UNRais is far less stable than Freenas.
