in the end, I used Unraid. I chose this over FreeNAS because of the community level of support that is present. I likes the way it implemented Dockers and VM's. I had never used Dockers before, but the way they implemented VM's was very similar to what VMWare does. I also really liked how they implemented IOMMU (naively passing Hardware to a VM or Docker).
There are a few things that I don't like, but hope theses eventually get integrated in to the OS. Right now there are user created Scripts that can achieve these items.
- The Inability to create user groups. Every user and share must be done separately.
- Not having a native "Home" folder for users. Like you do in either Linux or Windows
- you must have the root user as the default user. This is the user you use to login to the GUI. You cannot assign a different user for this task.
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So here are the video's I used to understand and setup Unraid. The best ones I have found are by a Youtuber names 'SpaceInvader One', his voice can get to you, but press on, he has the best content that I have found on this operating system and how to use it. https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceinvaderOne
The operating system or Unraid lives on a USB drive. you system will boot from this but doesn't use it for any kind of storage
Here is a video of different USL drives being tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjkaidlZmgs
I personally ended up using a Samsung 32GB BARPlus (MUF-32BE) this was the closest to the recommended that I could acquire. The OS is only using 600MB... I was really trying to get an 8GB or 16GB, but was not able too.
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1) What is it and what is new with 6.9.2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgnD4gSz4PA
2) Install: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcRwT7iHIcc&t=1285s
3) Cache Pools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgRSr7yBZfs
4) Setting up Shares: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceinvaderOne/videos
5) Moving Data
Part 1 - Introduction to the File System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXqmbYtyv9g
Part 2 - Using Krusader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVSxiN2hr4I&t
Part 3 - Using RSync: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkp_BUgJGqE
Part 4 - Using Root Shares: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp8_4xRYOX4&t
I needed to use all of these methods depending on where my data was.
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Here is some of the cream on top
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Setting up a Minecraft Docker... No need to have a Windows VM...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVV-L1GBvQo
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Ever wanted to dump using Google Drive, One Drive, Box, Drop-Box.... Now you can... host your own Cloud Storage... It's FREE !!! {for personal use}
Part 1: Setting up Next Cloud - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id4GcVZ5qBA&t
Part 2: Configure After Setup - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmWPtfGIp1M
Part 3: Using the Next Cloud Share - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdj7IHJHWjg
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Setting up and using a VM
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miYUGWq6l24
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2dkrFKPOyw
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I hope this helps.