Blog/content/post/18-create-nas-server-with-truenas.md

---
slug: create-nas-server-with-truenas
title: Build and install of my NAS with TrueNAS Scale
description: "Step-by-step TrueNAS SCALE homelab NAS build: hardware choice, installation, ZFS pool and datasets, SMB/NFS shares and snapshots."
date: 2026-02-27
draft: false
tags:
  - truenas
categories:
  - homelab
---
## Introduction

In my homelab, I need a place to store data outside of my Proxmox VE cluster.

At the beginning, my single physical server has 2 HDDs disks of 2 TB. When I installed Proxmox on it, those disks stayed attached to the host. I shared them via an NFS server in an LXC, far from best practice.

This winter, the node started to fail, shutting down for no reason. This buddy is now 7 years old. When it went offline, my NFS shares disappeared, taking a few services down with them in my homelab. Replacing the CPU fan stabilized it, but I now want a safer home for that data.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how I built my NAS with TrueNAS.

---
## Choose the right platform

For a while I wanted a NAS. Not an out‑of‑the‑box Synology or QNAP, even though I think they’re great products. I wanted to build mine. Space is tight in my tiny rack, and small NAS cases are rare.

### Hardware

I went for an all‑flash NAS. Why?
- It's fast
- It's ~~furious~~ compact
- It's quiet
- It uses less power
- It runs cooler

The trade‑off is price.

 Network speed is my bottleneck anyway, but the other benefits are exactly what I want. I don’t need massive capacity, about 2 TB usable is enough.

My first choice was the [Aiffro K100](https://www.aiffro.com/fr/products/all-ssd-nas-k100). But shipping to France nearly doubled the price. Finally I ended up with a [Beelink ME mini](https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-me-mini-n150?variant=48678160236786).

This small cube has:
- Intel N200 CPU
- 12 GB RAM
- 2x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet
- Up to 6x NVMe drives
- A 64 GB eMMC chip for the OS

I started with 2 NVMe drives for now, 2 TB each.

### Software

Now that the hardware is chosen, which software will I use?

My requirements were simple:
- NFS shares
- ZFS support
- VM capabilities

I considered FreeNAS/TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault, and Unraid. I chose TrueNAS SCALE 25.10 Community Edition. For clarity: FreeNAS was renamed TrueNAS CORE (FreeBSD‑based), while TrueNAS SCALE is the Linux‑based line. I’m using SCALE.

---
## Install TrueNAS

⚠️ I installed TrueNAS on the eMMC chip. That’s not recommended, eMMC endurance can be a risk.

The install didn’t go as smoothly as expected...

I use [Ventoy](https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html) to keep multiple ISOs on one USB stick. I was in version 1.0.99, and the ISO wouldn't launch. Updating to 1.1.10 fixed it:
![TrueNAS installation splash screen](img/truenas-iso-installation-splash.png)

But here I encountered another problem when launching the installation on my eMMC storage device:
```
Failed to find partition number 2 on mmcblk0
```

I found a solution on this [post](https://forums.truenas.com/t/installation-failed-on-emmc-odroid-h4/15317/12):
- Enter the shell
![Enter the shell in TrueNAS installer](img/truenas-iso-enter-shell.png)
- Edit the file `/lib/python3/dist-packages/truenas_installer/utils.py`
- Move the line `await asyncio.sleep(1)` right beneath `for _try in range(tries):`
- Edit line 46 to add `+ 'p'`:
`for partdir in filter(lambda x: x.is_dir() and x.name.startswith(device + 'p'), dir_contents):`
![Fichier corrigé dans l'installateur TrueNAS](img/truenas-iso-fix-installer.png)
- Exit the shell and start the installation without reboot

The installer was finally able to get through:
![Progression de l'installation de TrueNAS](img/truenas-iso-installation.png)

Once the installation was complete, I shut down the machine. Then I installed it into my rack on top of the 3 Proxmox VE nodes. I plugged both Ethernet cables from my switch and powered it up.

## Configure TrueNAS

By default, TrueNAS uses DHCP. I found its MAC address in my UniFi interface and created a DHCP reservation. In OPNsense, I added a Dnsmasq host override. In the Caddy plugin, I set up a domain for TrueNAS pointing to that IP, then rebooted.

✅ After a few minutes, TrueNAS is now available on https://nas.vezpi.com.
### General Settings

During install, I didn’t set a password for truenas_admin. The login page forced me to pick one:
![Page de connexion TrueNAS pour changer le mot de passe de `truenas_admin`](img/truenas-login-page-change-password.png)

Once the password is updated, I land on the dashboard. The UI feels great at first glance:
![Tableau de bord de TrueNAS](img/truenas-fresh-install-dashboard.png)

I quickly explore the interface, the first thing I do is changing the hostname to `granite` and check the box below et it inherit domain from DHCP:
![Configuration du hostname dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-config-change-hostname.png)

In the `General Settings`, I change the `Localization` settings. I set the Console Keyboard Map to `French (AZERTY)` and the Timezone to `Europe/Paris`.

I create a new user `vez`, with `Full Admin` role within TrueNAS. I allow SSH for key‑based auth only, no passwords:
![Création d'un utilisateur dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-create-new-user.png)

Finally I remove the admin role from `truenas_admin` and lock the account.

### Pool creation

In TrueNAS, a pool is a storage collection created by combining multiple disks into a unified ZFS‑managed space.

In the `Storage` page, I can find my `Disks`, where I can confirm TrueNAS can see my couple of NVMe drives:
![List of available disks in TrueNAS](img/truenas-storage-disks-unconfigured.png)

Back in the `Storage Dashboard`, I click the `Create Pool` button. I name the pool `storage` because I'm really inspired to give it a name:
![Assistant de création de pool dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-general.png)

Then I select the `Mirror` layout:
![Disk layout selection in the pool creation wizard in TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-layout.png)

I explore quickly the optional configurations, but the defaults are fine to me: autotrim, compression, no dedup, etc. At the end, before creating the pool, there is a `Review` section:
![Review section of the pool creation wizard in TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-review.png)

After hitting `Create Pool`, I'm warned that everything on the disks will be wiped, which I confirm. Finally the pool is created.

### Datasets creation

A dataset is a filesystem inside a pool. It can contains files, directories and child datasets, it can be shared using NFS and/or SMB. It allows you to independently manage permissions, compression, snapshots, and quotas for different sets of data within the same storage pool.

#### SMB share

Let's now create my first dataset `files` to share files over the network for my Windows clients, like ISOs, etc:
![Create a dataset in TrueNAS](img/truenas-create-dataset-files.png)

When creating SMB datasets in SCALE, set Share Type to SMB so the right ACL/xattr defaults apply. TrueNAS then prompts me to start/enable the SMB service:
![Invite à démarrer le service SMB dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-start-smb-service.png)

From my Windows Laptop, I try to access my new share `\\granite.mgmt.vezpi.com\files`. As expected I'm prompt to give credentials.

I create a new user account with SMB permission.

✅ Success: I can browse and copy files.

#### NFS share

I create another dataset: `media`, and a child `photos`. I create a NFS share from the latter.

On my current NFS server, the files for the photos are owned by `root` (managed by *Immich*). Later I'll see how I can migrate towards a root-less version.

⚠️ For now I set, in `Advanced Options`, the `Maproot User` and `Maproot Group` to `root`. This is equivalent to the NFS attribute `no_squash_root`, the local `root` of the client stays `root` on the server, don't do that:
![NFS share permission in TrueNAS](img/truenas-dataset-photos-nfs-share.png)

✅ I mount the NFS share on a client, this works fine.

After initial setup, my `storage` pool datasets look like:
- `backups`
	- `duplicati`: [Duplicati](https://duplicati.com/) storage backend
	- `proxmox`: future Proxmox Backup Server
- `cloud`: `Nextcloud` data
- `files`:
- `media`
	- `downloads`
	- `photos`
	- `videos`

I mentioned VM capabilities in my requirements. I won't cover that is this post, it will be covered next time.

### Data protection

Now time to enable some data protection features:
![Data protection features in TrueNAS](img/truenas-data-protection-tab.png)

I want to create automatic snapshots for some of my datasets, those I care the most: my cloud files and photos.

Let's create snapshot tasks. I click on the `Add` button next to `Periodic Snapshot Tasks`:
- cloud: daily snapshots, keep for 2 months
- photos: daily snapshots, keep for 7 days
![Create periodic snapshot task in TrueNAS ](img/truenas-create-periodic-snapshot.png)

I could also set up a `Cloud Sync Task`, but Duplicati already handles offsite backups.

---
## Using TrueNAS

Now my TrueNAS instance is configured, I need to plan the migration of the data from my current NFS server to TrueNAS.
### Data migration

For each of my current NFS shares, on a client, I mount the new NFS share to synchronize the data:
```
sudo mkdir /new_photos
sudo mount 192.168.88.30:/mnt/storage/media/photos /new_photos
sudo rsync -a --info=progress2 /data/photo/ /new_photos
```

At the end, I could decommission my old NFS server on the LXC. The dataset layout after migration looks like this:
![Dataset layout in TrueNAS](img/truenas-datasets-layout.png)

### Android application

Out of curiosity, I've checked on the Google Play store for an app to manage a TrueNAS instance. I've found [Nasdeck](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.strtechllc.nasdeck&hl=fr&pli=1), which is quite nice. Here some screenshots:
![Captures d'écran de l'application Nasdeck](img/nasdeck-android-app.png)

---
## Conclusion

My NAS is now ready to store my data.

I didn't address VM capabilities as I will experience it soon to install Proxmox Backup Server as VM. Also I didn't configure notifications, I need to setup a solution to receive email alerts to my notification system.

TrueNAS is a great product. It needs capable hardware for ZFS, but the experience is excellent once set up.

Next step: deploy Proxmox Backup Server as a VM on TrueNAS, then revisit NFS permissions to go root‑less for Immich.