Hi from Germany

[vartha]

Hi there!

I've been using two Dell T20 (3x 4TB WD RED each) with Microsoft Server Essentials 2012R2 for my home network, primarily as a backup solution.
However, this is a legacy scenario as Microsoft is continuing to sunset this option.

I've never been happy with Microsoft's restrictions on Server Essentials 2012R2 anyway, such as forcing it as a one and only domain controller.

Over the Christmas holidays I've installed FreeNAS on one of the T20 which now acts as a backup target, file history server and Plex media server.

I tried different open source NAS solutions, including Rockstor, and I found FreeNAS to suit my needs best. It's actually pretty awesome if I may say so.

 

[Evertb1]

Hi there!

I've been using two Dell T20 (3x 4TB WD RED each) with Microsoft Server Essentials 2012R2 for my home network, primarily as a backup solution.
However, this is a legacy scenario as Microsoft is continuing to sunset this option.

I've never been happy with Microsoft's restrictions on Server Essentials 2012R2 anyway, such as forcing it as a one and only domain controller.

Over the Christmas holidays I've installed FreeNAS on one of the T20 which now acts as a backup target, file history server and Plex media server.

I tried different open source NAS solutions, including Rockstor, and I found FreeNAS to suit my needs best. It's actually pretty awesome if I may say so.

Welcome to the forum. I have traveled the road from Homeserver, Homeserver 2011 and at the end also Server 2012R2 to FreeNAS. I must be honest here. Homeserver/Homeserver 2011 were very promissing server products for the home. And with FreeNAS I was missing a lot of functionality that I had in Homeserver. But once I made the choice that my homeserver was dedicated to storage in the first place I did not look back. ZFS and all the goodies have been rock solid for me. I hope you enjoy FreeNAS fully and that it meet all your needs.