Proxmox with a Container-Free, VM-Free Approach

1. Exploring Storage Solutions: From premium NAS enclosures to DIY backup and file-sharing systems, the options for creating a reliable storage solution are vast. But what if you want to elevate your server game even further?

2. Proxmox for the Bold and Creative: Proxmox is a robust, open-source platform widely used for virtualization. However, it offers so much more than just running VMs and containers. With its native support for ZFS and Debian-based roots, Proxmox becomes a powerful tool for building a high-performance NAS.

3. Why Skip VMs and Containers?: Virtual machines can provide flexibility, but they come with an inherent performance overhead. If you’re seeking a streamlined, efficient solution, Proxmox allows you to create a NAS without the additional complexity and resource consumption of VMs and containers.

4. Maximize Your Hardware’s Potential: By harnessing Proxmox’s native storage capabilities, you can build a robust NAS system that’s tailored to your exact needs – with minimal resource usage and maximum efficiency.

5. A Perfect Blend of Simplicity and Power: This approach combines the flexibility of Proxmox’s advanced features with the simplicity of a direct NAS setup, providing you with a powerful storage solution without unnecessary overhead.

6. Future-Proof Your Storage: With ZFS integration and the stability of Proxmox, your NAS will be ready to scale and handle growing data needs, making it an ideal long-term storage solution for both home and business use.

 

By the end of this post, you’ll know how to set up your own lean, mean NAS machine using Proxmox—without relying on VMs or containers—so you can optimize your storage while keeping things simple and powerful.

Creating the ZFS pool

Configuring Drives and Creating a ZFS Pool on Proxmox: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Connect Your Drives: Start by plugging the drives into your Proxmox server. Once the server boots up, access the web UI for easy management.

2. Prepare Drives for ZFS:

• Navigate to the Disks tab of your Proxmox node.
• Click the Wipe button to erase any existing data and prepare the drives for ZFS configuration.

 

3. Create a ZFS Pool:

• Switch to the ZFS tab and select the Create ZFS button.
• In the prompt, enter a unique name for your ZFS pool.

 

4. Select RAID Level: Choose your desired RAID level based on your storage needs, balancing redundancy and performance.

5. Finalizing: Hit Create to complete the process, and your ZFS pool will be ready for use in your makeshift NAS.

 

By following these steps, you’ll efficiently set up a powerful ZFS-based storage solution with Proxmox, taking advantage of its RAID support, snapshot features, and self-repair capabilities.

Setting up an Samba share

With the ZFS pool ready, it’s time to install the Samba packages and set up the network share.

1. Navigate to the Shell tab of your preferred Proxmox node and run the following command to download the Samba packages.

   apt install samba smbclient -y
   

 

2. Create a new directory for your network share inside the ZFS pool you created earlier with the mkdir command. mkdir /zfs_pool_name/share_name.

 

3. Set up a new user for the network share before creating a password for it.

• useradd -m user_name

• passwd user_name4. Create an SMB password for the user with this command:

  smbpasswd -a user_name

  5. Use the nano editor to access the smb.conf file in the terminal.

  nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

  6. Head to the bottom of the config file, enter the name of the network share within square brackets ([]), and enter the following fields in the proper indentation.

  • path = /zfs_pool_name/share_name

  • read only = no

  • valid user = user_name

  • writeable = yes
    

7. Hit Ctrl+X followed by Y and Enter to save and exit the smb.conf file.

8. Run the chmod command to grant full privileges to your network share directory.

chmod 777 /zfs_pool_name/share_name

9. Restart the SMB share using the following command:

systemctl restart smbd.service

Accessing the share on another device

Now that the SMB share is up and running, you’re free to access it on your PC. We’ve demonstrated the steps to do so on Windows 11, but the overall process is the same for most operating systems.

1. Launch the File Explorer.
2. Type the IP address of your Proxmox machine (without the port number) into the Address bar.
3. Enter the Username and Password you’d set earlier into the pop-up window to access the network share.

Once you’ve transferred your files to the Proxmox-powered NAS, you can perform the scrub, trim, and resilver tasks using the Shell window of your node. That said, it’s hard to deny the convenience of a dedicated NAS OS, especially since you can perform all the tasks inside web UIs instead of running circles inside a command-line interface. Fortunately, you can run most NAS operating systems inside Proxmox virtual machines and expect decent performance after allocating enough cores, memory, and storage provisions to said VMs.

 

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