TrueNAS NAS

SMB shares on the TrueNAS NAS

Here it is- my main server. For years it ran TrueNAS Core, but nowadays updates for it are rare to come by. The migration from Core to Scale was very difficult because of how many FreeBSD Jails I used to have which needed to be migrated to Docker. Even as of 2025 it still lacks the features to limit containers to a single NIC in the web UI as you can with Core, so some of my containers are managed through the CLI instead using macvtap.

However, using Scale I do not need to run any VMs any more. RIP Ubuntu0!

In terms of hardware, it has two 8Tb Samsung QVO SSDs and a 4Tb NVME SSD for storage, a Intel dual port 10 gigabit NIC, 32Gb of memory for lots of tasks and a good ZFS cache, and an Intel 11500T due to its low power consumption and excellent encoding performance for jellyfin. It lives inside a nice 1U case to save space, cooled with 4 40mm noctua fans. One of the 10Gb NICs is connected to the rest of the network via the TL-SG3428XMP switch, and the other to the Backup NAS directly through an ad-hoc network.

Interestingly, in Scale I also managed to get VLANs to work which I could never get to work in Core, which means I need to use one fewer NIC which further reduces power consumption. It typically uses ~30w even when under load, which it basically always is thanks to seeding torrents.

I was very impressed with the 1U supermicro power supply. It is at least as good as a PicoPSU in terms of idle power consumption. Speaking of power consumption, all of these parts were selected due to their low power consumption, everything supports ASPM power management. This combination is capable of using as little as 8W at idle. The motherboard is a little strange however, I think it might be a chinese exclusive product, I bought it from Aliexpress. The CMOS battery is wired backwards, so you have to cut it and resolder the connections inverted for some reason. It has two M.2 slots, and a PCIe 16x that (I'm pretty sure) is capable of bifurcation. It also has an onboard 2.5Gb NIC, although I have it disabled since I'd rather use the (probably more reliable) gigabit Intel NIC, since it's only for VLANs I don't need the speed anyway. Thats what the 10Gb NICs are for !

This motherboard and CPU combination can be extremely energy efficient

The current docker containers running on this server are listed on the services pageon my blog.