Phase 4

TrueNAS

Important: Virtualizing a NAS is totally doable, but do it correctly.

  • Best: pass through an entire HBA/controller to TrueNAS.
  • Acceptable: pass through whole disks consistently.
  • Avoid: building TrueNAS pools on top of Proxmox virtual disks.

1) Create the TrueNAS VM

Upload the TrueNAS ISO

  • Proxmox → local → ISO Images → Upload

Create VM

  • Name: truenas
  • OS: Linux
  • BIOS: OVMF (UEFI) recommended
  • CPU: 2–4 cores
  • RAM: 8–16 GB
  • Boot disk: 32–64 GB on SSD/NVMe
  • NIC: VirtIO

2) Add storage to TrueNAS

Option A (best): HBA passthrough

  • Install an HBA (LSI IT mode)
  • Enable IOMMU in Proxmox (see Debian GPU page for IOMMU steps)
  • Add PCI device → select HBA

Option B: passthrough whole disks

On Proxmox host:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/

Use Proxmox UI:

  • VM → Hardware → Add → Hard Disk → Use physical disk

3) Install TrueNAS

Boot the VM and run the installer. Then access the UI:

  • http://<truenas-ip>

4) Create a ZFS pool

TrueNAS UI:

  1. Storage → Pools → Add
  2. Select disks
  3. Choose layout (Mirror/RAIDZ1/RAIDZ2)
  4. Name: tank

Suggested datasets:

  • tank/media (movies/tv/music)
  • tank/photos (Immich library)
  • tank/documents (Paperless)
  • tank/appdata (container configs; optional)
  • tank/backups (HA + Proxmox backups)

6) Configure snapshots

Data Protection → Periodic Snapshot Tasks

  • Hourly: keep 24
  • Daily: keep 30
  • Weekly: keep 8

7) SMB share (Windows/macOS clients)

Create an SMB user

Credentials → Local Users → Add

  • user: smbuser
  • strong password

Enable SMB service

System Settings → Services → SMB → Start + Enable

Create SMB shares

Sharing → Windows (SMB) Shares → Add Example:

  • Path: /mnt/tank/media
  • Name: media

Connect from clients

  • Windows: \<truenas-ip>\media
  • macOS: smb://<truenas-ip>/media

Next

Proceed to: Home Assistant OS VM

Navigation: ← Installing Proxmox VE (Bare Metal) | Home Assistant OS VM on Proxmox (Backups to NAS) →