OpenMediaVault
OpenMediaVault is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage. The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.
Background
By the end of 2009, Volker Theile was the only active developer of FreeNAS, a NAS operating system that Olivier Cochard-Labbé started developing from m0n0wall in 2005. m0n0wall is a variation of the FreeBSD operating system, and Theile decided he wanted to rewrite FreeNAS for Linux. The project team had known for months that FreeNAS needed a major rewrite in order to support crucial features. Since Cochard-Labbé preferred to stay with a FreeBSD-based system, he and Theile agreed that Theile would develop his Linux version under a different name; that name was initially coreNAS, but within a matter of days Theile discarded it in favour of OpenMediaVault.Meanwhile, FreeNAS still needed to be rewritten and maintained. To accomplish this, Cochard-Labbé handed development over to iXsystems, an American company that develops the TrueOS operating system.
Technical design
Theile chose Debian because the large number of programs in its package management system meant that he wouldn't have to spend time repackaging software himself. OpenMediaVault makes a few changes to the Debian operating system. It provides a Web-based user interface for administration and customisation, and a plug-in API for implementing new features. One can install plug-ins through the Web interface.Features
- Multi-language, Web-based graphical user interface
- Protocols: CIFS, FTP, NFS, SSH, rsync, iSCSI, AFP and TFTP
- Software-RAID
- Monitoring: Syslog, Watchdog, S.M.A.R.T., SNMP
- Statistic reports via E-Mail
- Statistic graphs for the CPU-workload, LAN transfer rates, hard disk usage and RAM allocation
- GPT/EFI partitioning >2 TByte possible
- Filesystems: ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, XFS, JFS, NTFS, FAT32
- Quota
- User and group management
- Access controls via ACL
- Link Aggregation Bonding, Wake On LAN
- Plug-in system
Plug-ins
- ClamAV - Antivirus software
- Digital Audio Access Protocol – provides audio files in a local network
- SAN and iSCSI – block based access datastores over the network
- Sabnzbd, an NNTP reader designed for automated retrieval of binary files
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol – Information request and changes of a directory service
- Logical Volume Manager - enables the possibility to create and administrate dynamic partitions
- Netatalk – File-, time- and printserver for Apple Macintosh
- Network UPS Tools, to support the use of an Uninterruptible power supply
- Easy changes to the Routing tables
- usbbackup, which allows backups to external USB hard disks
- Plex server and webclient
- Transmission
- OwnCloud – a suite of client-server software for creating file hosting services
- and many more
Additional plug-ins
Third-party plug-ins
Some of the software that is controllable via third-party plug-ins are:- Aufs, Greyhole, Union mount, and SnapRAID
- Transmission, a BitTorrent client
- BitTorrent Sync
- Calibre, e-book manager
- CUPS, print server
- eXtplorer, Web-based file manager
- pyLoad / JDownloader, download managers
- MySQL / MariaDB, database server
- Nginx, Webserver
- OpenVPN AS, virtual private networking
- Plex, media server
- Syslinux, Preboot Execution Environment
- Roundcube, Web-based mail client
- Clonezilla / rsnapshot / SystemRescueCD, backup
- Sickbeard / SABnzdb / Headphones / Couch Potato, Usenet download managers
- Subsonic, Web-based media streamer and jukebox
- Video Disk Recorder
- VirtualBox, virtual machine host
- WordPress, blog software
- ZFS, an advanced file system
- and many more
Minimum System requirements
- Any Architecture/hardware that is supported by Debian
- 1 GiB RAM
- 4 GiB hard drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive with static wear leveling support for the OS.
- 1 hard drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive for storing user data
Release history
| Version | Name | Release Date | EOL Date | Base | Notes |
| Ix | 2011-10-17 | Debian 6 | Named for the planet Ix. | ||
| Omnius | 2012-04-18 | 2012-12-30 | Debian 6 | Introduced multi-language web interface and graphical user prompt for rights administration via Access Control List. The release is named for Omnius, a sentient computer network in the Legends of Dune trilogy. | |
| Fedaykin | 2012-09-21 | 2013-12-09 | Debian 6 | Named for the Fedaykin commandos of the Fremen people. | |
| Sardaukar | 2013-08-25 | Debian 6 | Revised API renders v0.4 plugins incompatible. | ||
| Kralizec | 2014-09-15 | 2015-12-26 | Debian 7 | Improves support for weaker systems; adds a dashboard with support for widgets; improved infrastructure for plug-ins. This release is named for Kralizec, a battle predicted to occur at the end of the universe. | |
| Stone burner | 2015-06-29 | 2017-12-06 | Debian 7 | Sencha ExtJS 5.1.1 Framework for the WebGUI; revised GUI supports configuration of WiFi, VLAN, et al. This release is named for the stone burner, a nuclear weapon held by House Atreides. | |
| Erasmus | 2017-06-13 | 2018-07-09 | Debian 8 | Named for the robot Erasmus. | |
| Arrakis | 2018-05-08 | 2020-06-30 | Debian 9 | Named for the planet Dune. | |
| Usul | 2020-03-30 | Debian 10 | Named for the secret name of Paul Atreides in Dune. |