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A selection of the best FreeNAS plugins that will extend the standard NAS Services

A couple of FreeNAS plugins were made available to provide extra features to both home and enterprise FreeNas server

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FreeNAS Plugins

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FreeNAS

FreeNAS is an open sourced storage operating system. It was released to the public in 2005, and NAS Software Company diversified its functions to providing hardware solutions. These solutions included FreeNAS Mini & Mini XL and FreeNAS servers. As this product is open-source, it means that it is free and you will not need to spend your hard earned money to make your own servers using your old computers. As the market grew the need to extend the standard NAS capabilities became a reality. A couple of FreeNAS plugins were made available to provide extra features to both home and enterprise FreeNas server.

FreeNAS plugins were structured on architecture that focused on FreeBSD jails and PC-BSD 9.x PBIs. The result was that users were able to install and shape additional applications after they had come up with a plugins jail.

This operating system allows users to install plugins using the following methods: Command Line and graphical user interface mode.

In graphical user interface mode, the user has a limited amount of control while retaining the ability to browse, install and configure a plugin. In the second method, the user has no restrictions over software installations.

In order to operate the FreeNAS operating system one needs to meet the following hardware specifications:

  • A 64-bit processor with multiple cores
  • 8GB Boot Drive
  • 8GB RAM
  • At least one direct attached disk (Hardware RAID strongly discouraged)
  • A network port

The following is a detailed list of FreeNAS Plugins

Bacula-sd (storage daemon)

  • This is a set of computer programs that are open source. Their function is to provide a backup structure for the network.

BTSync

  • This is an application that facilitates a decentralized peer to peer file syncing capability. It is considered to be a lot quicker that its centralized counterpart.

CouchPotato

  • This is a FreeNAS plugin that is compatible with a wide variety of browsers such as opera. It is a bit torrent application that is free.

CrashPlan

  • This plugin facilitates the backing up of data to other storage facilities such as remote servers. A major benefit of using this plug in is it is free and entirely offsite.

Cruciblewds

  • This is a plugin that supports both unicast and multicast while also facilitating web-based cloning. This is a free alternative to Ghost.

Emby

  • This plugin allows the user to create a personal Emby server that facilitates the conversion and streaming of media to any device.

Firefly

  • This is a completely free media server plugin that supports Apple iTunes

Headphones

  • This plugin allows the user to automate music downloads on NZB and torrent. It is coded in python and is part of the FreeNAS plugins.

HTPC-Manager

  • This is a FreeNAS plugin that allows the user to combine all their software while providing them with a responsive user interface to manage their software collection.

Maraschino

  • This is a simple web interface that acts as an appeasing overview page for both XBMC and HTPC.

MineOS

  • This is an open source plugin that facilitates a web interface to invent and maintain Minecraft server instances.

Mylar

  • This is an automated Comic Book downloader that follows the principles of plugins sick beard and headphones.

Owncloud

  • This is a commonly used system for the personal creation and use of cloud resources.

Plex media server

  • This is a FreeNAS plugin that converts NAS server to Plex Media Server. It does all this by also adding its compatibility to it.

S3cmd

  • This is a plugin that is used as a backup for Linux and Mac. It is a command Line S3 Client that was used to recover and manage data on cloud storage platforms such as Amazon S3.

SABnzbd

  • This application grants the user access to any device with any browser. It runs on common operating systems such as Windows. This plugin can also be used to download files from servers like Usenet. This plugin has the added advantage of integrating applications like CouchPotato to automate the download process.

SickBeard

  • This plugin allows the user to watch popular TV shows using FreeNas.

SickRage

  • This is a plugin that sorts your video library automatically. It processes the qualities you have specified and downloads episodes of your preferred TV shows using torrent or NZB.

Sonarr

  • Sonarr is a personal video recorder plugin. It has the capabilities of downloading new episodes of your favorite TV shows and monitoring multiple RSS feeds for news on your TV shows.

Subsonic

  • This is a FreeNAS plugin application whose main function is converting the users NAS into a home server that functions as a personal media server. It has the capabilities of hosting and receiving podcasts

Syncthing

  • This is a FreeNAS plugin that provides the user with their personal centralized syncing which replaces most proprietary syncing software and other forms of cloud services. This plugin also lets you choose where you will store your data if you want to share it with a third party. It also gives the user options on how to transmit the data over the internet.

Transmission

  • This is a cross-platform Bit Torrent client.

XDM

  • This is an application coded in python. Xtendable Download Manager is a plugin based on the functionalities of media collection. It has the capability of running in the background while providing an acceptable web interface.
    A major factor to take into consideration is that all these FreeNAS plugins are free and compatible with multiple platforms. The plugins can be used without FreeNas.