FreeNAS vs. Ubuntu

FreeNAS suited really well in managing our legacy systems and it handled all our network flows really well, less maintenance is required on our part. FreeNAS also gave the option to switch to TrueNAS for free as now its support is limited. The major issue that we faced was with the installation as it is really complex and required lots of time. Rest all is good and FreeNAS still works well on our systems.

Incentivized

For a regular not tech savvy user, Ubuntu [Linux] is a piece of cake once installed, and for the tech savvy, super simple to install. And even for the not as tech savvy it is easy.

Server specs don't need to be great, it'll run on anything, though what cpu/memory you'll need depends on your use case.

Incentivized

• The FreeNAS web interface is modern looking. It makes tasks like provisioning drives into raid volumes easy.
• The ZFS raid option allows you to add in an SSD as a cache drive to increase performance.

Incentivized

• Ubuntu Linux allows interfaces on desktop machines that are relatively easy for former Windows users to adapt to.
• Ubuntu allows smooth updates, usually with little down time.
• The user base for Ubuntu is large, which means help is easy to find.

Incentivized

• Not good for beginners as it requires deep understanding of networking and storage.
• Most of the good and required features are not available in free version.

Incentivized

• I'd like to see Canonical REALLY betting on desktop Linux and move one step forward with innovation in that area to improve user adoption.
• Desktop UI decisions have been not-so-happy in the past. The ability to move back and forth with Unity has pushed a lot of users in favor of options. Having REAL desktop environment options is something to improve as well.
• Improvements in interoperability with other OSes would be very welcome. Sometimes it's just hard to communicate with MacOS or Windows across some protocols. Maybe it's due to the private nature of these protocols, but alternatives are around, we just need to compile and improve them.

Incentivized

While it works, we're finding that SNAP is getting more and more annoying, so we're probably going to migrate to Debian.

Incentivized

I gave it 10 out of 10 because it allows me to do the work I need on a server, such as running a website and database, and making developments. In addition, thanks to its easy and useful interface during installation, it can be easily installed. In addition, thanks to its easily accessible documents, when a problem occurs, it can be solved easily and quickly.

Incentivized

There were some things that can be found by other users on forums and Google and some things that were not.

Incentivized

We did not use the managed commercial support, but instead relied on community forums and official documentation. Ubuntu is very well documented across both instructional documentation from the developers themselves as well as informal support forums [ServerFault, YCombinator, Reddit]. It's easy enough to find an answer to any question you may have

Incentivized

It was all pretty much automatic for our use cases. It integrates nicely with Laravel Forge, which is our primary use case.

Incentivized

Before swapping to FreeNAS, we'd been using plan old Linux servers running Samba and NFS with ZFS storage underneath. This worked really well for our requirements at the time but required a lot of administration when new versions came along, or new users had to be added or drives needed replacing, and so on. FreeNAS did away with 95% of that work and does a much better job too.

Incentivized

A viable, free, widely used alternative to any modern operating systems on the market. Ubuntu [Linux] is constantly improved, has an enormous user base, a very good community. It's one of the most advanced Linux distributions of today, and can be highly customized to the point that almost any requirement can be filled with it.

Incentivized

• Low-Cost Network Attached Storage
• Provides additional network storage to support client & business operations
• FreeNAS secures our data using custom encryption keys

Incentivized

• Positive impact 1: The great feeling of using quality software, free, completely updated and within the law.
• Positive impact 2: The culture of using Ubuntu Linux encourages information security within the company.
• Positive impact 3: The system has many more customization options, which can make its use more pleasant and personal even in the business environment.
• Negative impact 1: A steeper and more challenging learning curve.

Incentivized