Can TrueNAS replace my multi-functional server?

[Bundy]

I have a server built from a 13 year old computer running Windows 10 Pro, because it was lying around at my work. What it does:

-Using WAMP (Windows Apache MySQL PHP) it serves a dashboard/news webpage to office workers.

-This news webpage has a backend C# program I wrote which retrieves data from Google Sheets and then shows this data on the webpage. This data is updated frequently, so I made the program to check Google Sheets every 5 minutes. The program is constantly running because Task Scheduler on Windows 10 isn't working correctly. I wrote it in C# because I was thinking about changing to a Linux system.

-Serves as a SMB file server for about 15 people.

-The WAMP stack also runs a cloud app called FileRun, which is like NextCloud, but more convenient because the app installation can be completely separate from the data location. Also, FileRun seems to not try to be a "do everything" app like NextCloud seems to try to be. One thing about it I don't like is I can't see the percentage of disk used though.

-Both FileRun and the dashboard/news webpage run on the same domain and Let's Encrypt certificate.

This server has been working fine for about 3 years now, but the hardware is quite old. It uses a very old 500GB HDD for data and an old 250 GB SSD for the OS. I am itching to purchase all new hardware to turn into a NAS/web sever and was wondering if TrueNAS Scale is suitable. Can it do everything my Windows 10 server can do? Or am I better off using Debian/Linux and just setting it up with a LAMP stack (or Nginx), .NET, FileRun, Samba for SMB sharing, and possibly use ZFS with Linux too?

 

[danb35]

more convenient because the app installation can be completely separate from the data location

That's true of Nextcloud as well, and my script configures it that way. But you're right that Nextcloud tends to include everything including a few kitchen sinks, while some other apps are more selective.

As to whether TrueNAS can do this, I'd say it likely it can, but CORE would be better than SCALE--SCALE just doesn't have a good way to let you run your own arbitrary software (unless it's packaged in a Docker container), while CORE has jails for that purpose.

 

[Bundy]

As to whether TrueNAS can do this, I'd say it likely it can, but CORE would be better than SCALE--SCALE just doesn't have a good way to let you run your own arbitrary software (unless it's packaged in a Docker container), while CORE has jails for that purpose.

I'm more familiar with Linux, and have never used FreeBSD. Just looking at the FreeBSD website makes me think I time traveled to 1997, but so does the Debian website. Anyway, I'm more comfortable with Linux commands, which is why I was looking at the Scale version.

My C#/.NET app isn't packaged as a Docker container and I have no idea how I would do that and have it play nice with everything. Just curious how the process of getting my app working on Core would be?

 

[danb35]

Just curious how the process of getting my app working on Core would be?

The short version would be, "compile it for FreeBSD, and Bob's your proverbial uncle." But as to how to do that, I'm afraid I can't help. I know there are .NET appllications that run fine under FreeBSD (like the *arr suite, for example), but not how they got there.

Of course, you could always run a VM on SCALE, and install whatever you want there, on whichever OS you like. A jail under CORE would be a bit more efficient though.

 

[Bundy]

I know there are .NET appllications that run fine under FreeBSD (like the *arr suite, for example), but not how they got there.

Looking around a bit, it seems that .NET is not supported in FreeBSD, and it's open source doppleganger is barely supported and has no traction.

Of course, you could always run a VM on SCALE

This could work. So for example: Can the VM somehow access the data which is running on the NAS? Or is it completely isolated? That would only be important if I try to use FileRun on Scale, instead of the included NextCloud app.

I think last time I tried to play with NextCloud, I had a hell of a time trying to get SMB and NextCloud to coexist and to have NextCloud show updated files which were changed via SMB. But maybe it's different now.

I really want a nice admin GUI interface that TrueNAS has, but it might be doing more extra steps than I need to accomplish my goal. I don't know. Wish I had an extra computer to try it out on, but I can't because my server is still in use.

 

[NugentS]

You could try Scale Jails - something I am trying out at the moment. https://github.com/Jip-Hop/jailmaker
It allows me to run a seperate instance of Debian, under Scale on which I then run docker and portainer. But rather than being a KVM VM with all that overhead it works almost as a TrueNAS Core Jail. Sort of

 

[danb35]

Can the VM somehow access the data which is running on the NAS?

The VM can access data on the NAS using various network file-sharing protocols, but not directly.

 

[Bundy]

The VM can access data on the NAS using various network file-sharing protocols, but not directly.

So the VM would be accessing the NAS via the network just like any other computer on the network? Seems like a lot of overhead for my project. Maybe Linux would be better.

 

[Stux]

I'd suggest porting your WAMP stack into a docker linux container. That would still run on Windows.

And once you've done that, you can pretty much run it everywhere. Including in TrueNAS Scale, or in a bhyve VM on TrueNAS Core.