And for completion here are some tips in general for NAS:
Use backup. NAS is not a backup. It is a part of backup, never forget this. Always have backup on a different media (or different NAS) and off site if possible!
Use hard disks and SSDs from different vendors always. You may be unlucky and receive media from a problematic batch and have multiple failures during the recovery.
Use RaidZ2 or RAID6 or better to reduce the risk of completely losing the data.
Use high quality PSU. A NAS runs all the time, so selecting PSUs with GOLD certification or better can reduce your power consumption.
Use UPS or at least an AVR. It is a very bad idea to stop a NAS system without proper shutdown procedure.
Don't overuse the NAS server with multiple VMs/docker instances/Jain instances. Keep it simple!
Here are some tips and tricks from my TrueNAS home NAS server. In my previous post I analyzed the reasons for using TrueNAS instead of Linux distributions (ZFS, stability etc). After two months running the system, here are some tips from experience using it:
- Use a stable version. Although very stable, TrueNAS can contain bugs. Try to use the stable and the production ready versions (RELEASE).
- Use a dual media from different vendors for boot devices to avoid catastrophic scenarios.
- Always backup (a) the configuration and (b) the encryption keys. If you lose your encryption keys, you lose your data!
- Prefer the official repository plugins rather than the community maintained. From time and time I noticed incompatibilities after updates.
- Don't add many Jails instances. If you overshoot it, then something is wrong in your system design.
- Test your system (motherboard, controllers, nics, etc) if it compatible with the distribution.