mirror of
https://github.com/davestephens/ansible-nas
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89 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
Ansible-NAS currently assumes you know your way around a server. This page is an
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overview for absolute NAS beginners so they can decide if it is right for them.
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## The big picture
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To start off _really_ simple: A NAS ([Network Attached
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Storage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage)) is a server
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mostly for home or other small networks that offers file storage. It's usually a
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small box that sits in the corner and runs 24/7. These days, a NAS doesn't just
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only handle files, but also offers other services, for instance video streaming
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with [Plex](https://www.plex.tv/) or [Emby](https://emby.media/index.html). You
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can buy consumer NAS boxes from [various
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manufacturers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NAS_manufacturers) where
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you just have to add the hard drives, or you can configure your own hardware and
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use open-source software as the operating system.
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One example of the second variant you'll see mentioned here is
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[FreeNAS](https://freenas.org/). It is based on
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[FreeBSD](https://www.freebsd.org/), which like Linux belongs to the family of
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Unix-like operating systems. One strength of FreeBSD/FreeNAS is that it
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includes the powerful ZFS file system
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([OpenZFS](http://www.open-zfs.org/wiki/Main_Page), to be exact). However, it
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does not support the [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) containers the way Linux
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does. Also, the Linux ecosystem is larger. On the other hand, very few Linux
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distributions include ZFS out of the box because of licensing issues.
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Ansible-NAS in its default form attempts to have the best of both worlds by
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using Docker on Linux with ZFS. This is possible because the
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[Ubuntu](https://www.ubuntu.com/server) Linux distribution supports both
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technologies. As the name says, Ansible-NAS uses
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[Ansible](https://www.ansible.com/) server automation which is usually deployed
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on big multi-machine enterprise systems, not small home servers the size of a
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breadbox.
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## Before you take the plunge
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The commercial NAS vendors try to make setting up and running a NAS as simple
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and painless as possible - for a fee, obviously. The open-source NAS software
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providers have lots of resources to help you get started with your own hardware.
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FreeNAS for instance comes with extensive documentation, good introductions to
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ZFS and other topics, and a large community to lean on.
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With Ansible-NAS, at this point at least, you're pretty much on your own. Though
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there is a [Gitter](https://gitter.im/Ansible-NAS/Chat) chat room (see
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[support](support.md)), you're expected to have some familiarity with the
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technologies involved and be able to set up the basic stuff yourself.
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As a to-do list, before you can even install Ansible-NAS, you'll have to:
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1. Choose, buy, configure, and test your own **hardware**. If you're paranoid (a
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good mindset when dealing with servers), you'll probably want an
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uninterruptible power supply (UPS) of some sort as well as SMART monitoring
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for your hard drives. See the [FreeNAS hardware
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requirements](https://freenas.org/hardware-requirements/) as a guideline, but
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remember you'll also be running Docker. If you use ZFS (see below), take into
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account it [loves RAM](zfs/zfs_overview.md) and prefers to have the hard
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drives all to itself.
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1. Install **Ubuntu Server**, currently 20.04 LTS, and keep it updated. You'll
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probably want to perform other basic setup tasks like hardening SSH and
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including email notifications. There are [various
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guides](https://devanswers.co/ubuntu-20-04-initial-server-setup/) for this,
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but if you're just getting started, you'll probably need a book.
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You will probably want to install a specialized filesystem for bulk storage such
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as [ZFS](http://www.open-zfs.org/wiki/Main_Page) or
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[Btrfs](https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page). Both offer features
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such as snapshots, checksumming and scrubbing to protect your data against
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bitrot, ransomware and other nasties. Ansible-NAS historically prefers **ZFS**
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because this lets you swap storage pools with
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[FreeNAS](https://freenas.org/zfs/). A [brief introduction](zfs/zfs_overview.md)
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to ZFS is included in the Ansible-NAS documentation, as well as [an
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example](zfs/zfs_configuration.md) of a very simple ZFS setup.
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After that, you can continue with the actual [installation](installation.md) of
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Ansible-NAS.
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## How to experiment
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The easiest way to take Ansible-NAS for a spin is in a virtual machine, for
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instance in [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/) or
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[libvirt](https://libvirt.org). You'll want to create three virtual hard drives
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for testing: one of the actual NAS, and the two others to create a mirrored ZFS
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pool. This will let you experiment with installing, configuring, and running a
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complete system.
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A [Vagrant](https://vagrantup.com) _Vagrantfile_ and launch script are also
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available (`tests/test-vagrant.sh`), see the [testing](testing.md) page for more
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details.
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