# FreeNAS or Ubuntu Server?



## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

I had some old computers lying around and decided to try my luck on turning them into something useful. I had heard about FreeNAS being really easy to setup/maintain from the web GUI, so I tried that first. Seemed pretty useful overall.

Then I wanted to do things like add other packages, maintain from SSH, etc. Apparently I don't really know FreeBSD commands or whatever FreeNAS is based on. I am semi-familiar with Linux though, and I've been using it a lot recently so I'm learning a lot.

So I decided to switch one (of the three I had available) to Ubuntu Server, just to see if it was worth it. I figured Ubuntu Server would be more work in the beginning but easier to work with later on after it all was set up.

I guess I'm sort of right. I've been installing stuff that I already had set up in FreeNAS (OpenSSH I believe was the first thing, last I remember I was working toward webmin) and it's going alright. But I just don't want to get too deep into this and not use it to full potential, like to where it was probably better to stick with FreeNAS on that box. 

None of this computers have a whole lot of power to them, Pentium 4's with 1 or 2 GBs of RAM with maybe 40-300GB for hard drives. FreeNAS seems to work fine, and same with Ubuntu Server (no GUI installed since I don't really think it'll get used that often since I won't really physically access the machine).

These are sort of just side projects, so I don't have a whole lot to really expect from them. Maybe host some videos or music for a media server or perhaps a printer or two. I'm just looking for ideas and comments!


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

I have used both and both will work fine and provide similar functionality, if not identical for most users.

The one thing I did find was that although FreeNAS worked well with packages it included by default, 3rd party software wasn't always as easy.
This isn't to say that it couldn't be done in FreeNAS, but if you were following something from a web article or such, it was more than likely tailored or done with Ubuntu.

It's been a while since I ran either, but at the time FreeNAS had easy iSCSI support which was a factor for me.


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## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

I've found installing packages with FreeNAS is no fun at all. While that may be because I've used Linux more, FreeNAS seems to just be clunky if you want to install something since it doesn't have a package manager.

I might have an extra machine laying around that I could try Ubuntu or Ubuntu Server on and see if I can get webmin working.


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