FreeNas - Storage, Versatility, File Sharing, and VMs all in one!

I have used TrueNAS (Previously FreeNAS) on a personal and professional level for years now. TrueNas has a truly intuitive interface; it allows me to "spin up" a virtual machine for testing and sandboxing, it has plugins for many common uses (need a Plex media server? Select it and click "Install"!), and the support for multiple filesystems and sharing protocols allow for a lot of versatility. I use it for my Macbook TimeMachine backups, also for backing up my windows machines, storing documents and downloads, and even backing up my media. You can even define part of your storage as an iSCSI device, so you could run a separate ESXi host, or mount the iSCSI drives as drives on your workstations. Security integration means that my ActiveDirectory, LDAP, and Kerberos networks all play nice with file or folder-level security. The ZFS Filesystem insures that your data is safe in the event of a hard drive failure (yes, I've had it happen, and yes, I was able to get back up to 100% functionality in a short amount of time!). Additional uses for my TrueNas box include USB integration with my UPS, so I know when the power goes out at my home. For quite some time, I was running a ZoneMinder instance as well on my TrueNAS box and monitored and recorded several home security cameras. For work, we use TrueNAS not only for long-term file storage but also to spin up virtual machines for testing. Want to test out that hot new web server? Spin it up. When you're finished, click "Delete" and it all magically goes away. Or keep it running, your choice. You're only limited by storage, CPU, and RAM. Home system: IBM Server, 32 GB Ram, 8x 3TB HDDs Work system: 32 cores, 256GB RAM, 64TB total HDD (and I *LOVE* TrueNas on this box!!!) Overall, I can't imagine a time when I would not want a TrueNAS device running in my home or business.