Combine web server/NAS/PerForce to one machine?

I have three machines doing basic stuff:

• Synology DiskStation DS216(j) 2Bay - Website/NAS
• Terrastation 2Bay - NAS
• i7 tower - Perforce (Windows 11) and Steam/GOG/Epic Downloader (local copy of all games/quick install).

My current plan is to move my two NAS machines to one using TrueNas (still not clear if I can host the website with TrueNas) and keep the P4 machine on it's own. BUT what I want to know is if it's possible to run P4 and TrueNas on the same machine? Or is there another DIY Nas OS that I should use? I can move my Steam/GOG/Epic downloader to a lower-spec machine if needed.

Thank you in advance for any input.

Virtualization is what you're after (which you can do with TrueNas/1 machine) - just spin up a VM for anything you want to keep separate/need a different OS for/want to be able to wipe and restore quickly without taking everything else down etc

TrueNAS SCALE has better HW GPU passthrough for your 'Windows/game installer VM' - so consider that IMO (TrueNAS Core no longer supported really - just FYI)

P4 can run in a Docker on TrueNAS as well

Awesome!! I will read up on Docker and getting TrueNAS set up and stuff.

(and also migration of P4 data from Windows to TrueNAS).

Thank you kram182

Question, would TrueNas be "too much NAS"? I have been looking at Unraid as well and it seems easier, but I don't wanna screw myself over.

Have you looked at Open Media Vault?

Security is #1..

Even though TrueNAS supports virtualization, you never want your "NAS" to be accessible via the internet, incase there is an exploit from your website that would let someone into your NAS..

Do you plan to use VLANs to isolate your systems?

djstarfox said:

Have you looked at Open Media Vault?

Click to expand...

I have not. Looking into it this weekend.

MrGuvernment said:

Security is #1..

Even though TrueNAS supports virtualization, you never want your "NAS" to be accessible via the internet, incase there is an exploit from your website that would let someone into your NAS..

Do you plan to use VLANs to isolate your systems?

Click to expand...

I already do. My website is super simple. A basic HTML page. No plans to run anything more complex than that. No scripts or fancy things. But I know there are HTML injection nonsense. Or just keep a different NAS just for website hosting? I have that Synology and that worked fine. I can put that on it's own network or at a different physical location.

MrGuvernment Holy crap that was a rabbit hole of information I went through today and I know it just scratched the surface, thanks for the heads up. After some reading, a reverse proxy, running the website in it's own VM and making sure that the website has it's own credentials mighty be enough. I am not running any PHP, Java or, Python etc...

I am setting up a small test machine so i can run each environment and see how it feels. From my reading TrueNAS and Unraid seem like the same amount of effort to get running how I need, but TrueNAS looks to give you the nitty-gritty of control and more stability when updated. Both have communities that are quick to respond.

Public facing

• Personal website (as outlined above)
• Perforce w/Tailscale and own VM/Docker.

Private

• Archive photos (when blueray size, burn, take offline)
• Media Server (DVD, BlueRay, Music)
• Games
• Documents for work.
• Artwork (when project is done, burn and take offline)

And thank you djstarfox for the recommendation. OMV seems REALLY good and right for what I am trying to do. I will install this last, not saying anything about the quality, just the order I happened to go in.

Ya and you could also look into Cloudflare tunnels as well, what that does is at least limits the access to your website to only Cloudflare networks directly, then the internet only see Cloudflare's IP and such to your website.

It is a very deep rabbit hole, with the way things are today, doing some basic segmentation can save your entire network from potential compromise!

After a bit of messing around with my test machine, I think OMV is gonna take it. I like how it manages users and it seems "faster". Thanks djstarfox for the recommendation, something I didn't even consider!!

For all of them, getting it up and running wasn't an issue and very modern. Unraid had a cost to it for the bestest version which was a ding against it for me. I am not an IT professional, but if I got gud at this stuff, I would not use it over TrueNAS.

Gonna wipe the install and run OMV again then try to migrate my P4 data to make sure I don't screw myself over.

This is all really exciting

Alright, went to deploy OMV to the target machine it was intended for and it did not work. Install, would stop part way, then I had to pull a stick of ram, redo the whole thing a number of times... it was getting old fast. Then I installed Unraid and that did not want to install. Installed TrueNAS and it's working and had no issues so far... well kinda I have issues, but it's due to my experience level if anything.