OpenMediaVault

It's still on beta, but don't let that fool you, it's incredibly stable and I couldn't find a single bug. Project forum support is amazing, better then any paid support I've ever used. Really simple to install and use. If you're not Linux savvy, you can install and use it with very little effort, basically reading a short step-by-step tutorial, there are tools to make it simple for you to put the installation inside a USB thumb drive. Yeah, that easy! Plugins are easily installed, just select it and hit install, that's it. Anyways, it's simple to install and use yet very resourceful and secure. And it's Debian, lot's of packages, community and third party stuff to install and use. You can't go wrong. Go for it!

OMV brings to you a network attached storage solution for beginners and avanced users. It has the simplicity, yet is still comprehensive, that is needed for beginners who don't know much about Linux. It is even easier to install than your Windows. OMV takes care of anything itself. You just need to setup your root password. No more interaction is needed from you to install this Distribution. After the installion you can start right away with settup up your shares, configuring plugins and services, creating a raid or filesystem on your new hard disk. All that can be easy done via a simple Webinterface. OMV features a simple Plugin API and comes with a bunch of Plugins developed and maintained by votdev itself. Plugins that are included from the beginning and just need to be installed in the plugin section feature support for clamav (Antivirus), DAAP (itunes media server), netatalk (AppleTalk) and one for USB Backups. There are also some Plugins for Users with needs that go above the usual: LDAP, LVM2, iSCSI Enterprise Target, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and one to manipulate the the IP Route table. Besides that there are already many Plugins made from the community for the Fedaykin (OMV 0.4) version. Available User made Plugins are: autoshutdown, dnsmasq, git, mysql, processlist and transmissionbt. More Plugins, that are not maintained at the moment, but available and working on Fedaykin are: cups, minidlna, openvpn, subversion, virtualbox and a website plugin. Greyhole will be available again in the next OMV version. The upcoming version Sardaukar (OMV 0.5) will feature a better and redifined Plugin API which will make it even easier for Users to devolop Plugins. Other new Features that are coming to OMV are Static IPv6 Support (0.5) and dynamic Support in 0.6. Version 0.6 also takes the step to move from Debian Squeeze to the new stable Debian version Wheezy. Keep in mind that openmediavault just builds up onto a standard minimal Debian installation. So, anything that can run on Debian, will much likely also run on OMV.

I have been using OMV since its first public release and I have been very happy with it. I migrated from FreeNAS because I am more familiar and comfortable with Linux and updates can be done without having to reinstall the OS.

I have setup my OMV late 2012 and at that stage 0.4.x was out, it was very stable and fully supported my N40L from HP. It is the right solution for my home NAS supporting nearly anything that is possible on Debian and outperforms my home Gbit LAN. If you are looking for a Linux NAS solution with a great GUI, OMV is something, you should look at.

OMV Looks to be a combined FreeNAS & NAS4Free. Interface looks a lot easier to navigate than N4F (what I currently use on my main server). I will try it and report back.