Workstation laptop as NAS/router

[strikeraj]

Hello everyone!
I have hands on a workstation laptop at no cost and that got me idea to build something for personal home use.
Did a bit of googling and reading on this forum but I cannot find a similar setup, so I am looking to see what everyone's thought on this is.
Note that I have played around with computer stuff a bit but mostly in Windows environment and I am by no means experienced in setting up server/network.

Usage:
Home NAS and router, offsite backup at friend's home
Encryption not required
Laptop battery act as "UPS" to keep network and NAS up during power outage

Hardware:
Dell Precision 7730 (8850h, 64GB ram, 4x M.2 NVME slot, 1x GBE port, USB-C ports, SD card reader)
USB-C to 2.5GBE dongle
PoE injector, Wifi6 PoE AP
4x NVME SSD (will be testing with 512GB units, final config will be 2TB units. 6TB pool is more than sufficient for my use. Right now I am only using around 1.5TB on my USB drive plugged into my router)
SD card or USB to SATA drive for OS

Plan/Goal:
1. Run TrueNAS for a ZFS pool using the 4 NVME SSD, running zraid1.
2. Run OpenWRT or ddwrt as DHCP server and VPN host
3. Remote raspberryPi with USB drive for snapshot sync through VPN.

Question:
1. I read that laptop was not recommended to run TrueNAS was mainly due to the use of USB drive for the pool. Now that I am using NVME drives, is there other concern using an old laptop for my purpose?
2. For installation, should I use ESXi and run both TrueNAS core and WRT on VM? Or should I run TrueNAS scale and then WRT on VM from Scale?
3. So in my plan, the WRT is going to be the DHCP server. But since the NAS is going to be on the same physical machine, is it possible to assign a static IP from the WRT to the NAS, and set the NAS as an SMB server for sharing the pool to local network?
4. Looking a step ahead, since the workstation also has discrete graphics, would it work well as a plex server for transcoding to remote stream? If yes, would it affect my OS selection?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Arwen]

There are other reasons not to use laptops for a NAS.

For example, ZFS scrubs. They should be run at least monthly, but some people run them every 2 weeks. Depending on the amount of data stored, this can take hours to days to run, even on NVMe drives. During this time the CPU, memory & NVMe drives will be under constant use, which can generate lots of heat. If the laptop is designed right, it will either boost fan speed, or reduce CPU speed to reduce heat. Or perhaps even both. But if not, this could reduce the laptop's life.

Some laptops are simply not designed for continuous loads.


Next, using a USB-C to 2.5GBE dongle may not even work with TrueNAS. And even if it does, it is not a well tested, (if tested at all), option. Meaning if it starts giving irregular performance, or even just stops working, it may be that no one can offer constructive assistance except reboot. And if it does not work after reboot, replace.


Some laptops won't boot from SD cards. Neither my old one, nor my new one will do such. I can chain boot them, but that still requires an actual boot device to go from BIOS to Grub, then Grub on the SD card.


In the end, TrueNAS SCALE / Core and ZFS are not the end all for home NAS. ZFS was written with server hardware in mind. Not every computer, like desktops or laptops. ZFS does work well on many computers, but TrueNAS was also written for server hardware. Your configuration may work, may not, may even eat all your data.

 

[strikeraj]

There are other reasons not to use laptops for a NAS.

For example, ZFS scrubs. They should be run at least monthly, but some people run them every 2 weeks. Depending on the amount of data stored, this can take hours to days to run, even on NVMe drives. During this time the CPU, memory & NVMe drives will be under constant use, which can generate lots of heat. If the laptop is designed right, it will either boost fan speed, or reduce CPU speed to reduce heat. Or perhaps even both. But if not, this could reduce the laptop's life.

Some laptops are simply not designed for continuous loads.


Next, using a USB-C to 2.5GBE dongle may not even work with TrueNAS. And even if it does, it is not a well tested, (if tested at all), option. Meaning if it starts giving irregular performance, or even just stops working, it may be that no one can offer constructive assistance except reboot. And if it does not work after reboot, replace.


Some laptops won't boot from SD cards. Neither my old one, nor my new one will do such. I can chain boot them, but that still requires an actual boot device to go from BIOS to Grub, then Grub on the SD card.


In the end, TrueNAS SCALE / Core and ZFS are not the end all for home NAS. ZFS was written with server hardware in mind. Not every computer, like desktops or laptops. ZFS does work well on many computers, but TrueNAS was also written for server hardware. Your configuration may work, may not, may even eat all your data.

Thanks for your reply!
Just thinking out loud and please correct me if I am wrong

1. The workstation laptop is capable of running full workload for extended period, which was one of the reasons to pick the workstation laptop.
2. The USB-C to 2.5GBE dongle is actually not meant to be used by the TrueNAS OS, as it is for the WRT to hook up to WIFI6 AP. Not sure if that make sense or I am totally out to lunch.....
3. Noted that SD card may not boot, so I do have backup plan to run using a USB to SATA adapter.
4. Do you have other recommendation on what I other option I can choose? Main reason for me to pick TrueNAS is the flexibility and redundancy of the Z1 pool, as well as the cache and offsite backup function. Also, what kind of failure mode should I plan for, that would compromise all my data?

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

You're fine using a laptop as a server, run Ubuntu instead of TrueNAS and keep up on your 3-2-1 backup strategy. There are links and explanations in the user resource in my signature.

 

[Arwen]

I agree with @WI_Hedgehog that a plain Ubuntu install might be better. You can still use ZFS with RAID-Zx.

Your desire to use virtual machine for OpenWRT or ddwrt, and use that USB -> 2.5Gbps Ethernet would complicate any TrueNAS configuration.

Part of the problem is that you may run across odd things using a laptop, like power save modes causing odd behavior. You might think that you don't get from other OSes on that laptop, but TrueNAS Core or SCALE is designed as a server OS. Thus, it may tune things differently. You might be able to work around the problem, (others have for other things). But, it requires learning and here in the TrueNAS Forums we have little to no experience with running TrueNAS on a laptop. So you might be on your own for trouble shooting.

I am not trying to stop you. Just want you to walk in with both eyes open, and fully aware your configuration is very far from well tested.

 

[strikeraj]

Thanks for everyone's reply!
Looking at my intent and limitations, Ubuntu server seems to be a more appropriate course to take than TrueNAS.
Thanks for this community and looking forward to build a TrueNAS one day when I have the need and the resources!

For record and other visitors to this thread, I will likely be following these guides for the Ubuntu build

Home Build PC Server Router and NAS

Home-made PC Router and NAS Server

electro-dan.co.uk

Detailed Guide to Setting Up ZFS RAID on Ubuntu 22.04 - Manish R Jain

Original: Sep 14, 2022 In a previous post, I showed how to put together a cheap load balancer server for $500. I later had an idea to use that

manishrjain.com