Operating System: FreeBSDĪnother option for do-it-yourself NAS, NAS4Free claims to be “the simplest and fastest way to create a centralized and easily-accessible server for all kinds of data.” Key features include the ZFS file system, software RAID (levels 0, 1 or 5) and disk encryption. Paid, supported enterprise solutions based on the same technology are available under the TrueNAS brand name. It can be installed on nearly any hardware to turn it into a network attached storage (NAS) device. Operating System: LinuxįreeNAS claims to be the “the World’s #1 storage OS with over 10+ million downloads.” It counts the United Nations, the University of Florida, the Salvation Army, Reuters, Michigan State University, the Department of Homeland Security and many other organizations among its users. Short for Enterprise Storage OS, ESOS is a Linux distribution for setting up a storage array on your own hardware. It comes in a live-CD package or a server package that adds a web front-end. This project aims to simplify the process of setting up an encrypted fileserver. Well-known users include Cisco, DreamHost, CERN, Bloomberg, and Deutsche Telekom. It’s a distributed storage solution that boasts excellent performance, scalability and reliability. Red Hat’s Ceph offers unified object and block storage capabilities. If you know of additional open source storage applications that you believe should be on our list, feel free to note them in the Comments section below. Entries are organized into categories and then alphabetized within the categories. The list below features 64 open source storage projects that are among the best options available for enterprises, SMBs and individual users.

Open source software also offers users the option to set up a cloud storage solution where they have control over security and privacy, and it can also offer affordable options for backup and recovery.

These applications can make it possible to set up your own NAS or SAN device using industry-standard hardware without paying the high prices vendors charge for dedicated storage appliances. Home users and small businesses can also benefit from open source storage software. Projects like Hadoop, Ceph, Gluster and others have become very common at large enterprises. As data storage needs continue to grow and many organizations move toward software-defined infrastructure, more enterprises are using open source software to meet some of their storage needs.

Best open source projects 2018