If you need NAS software do yourself a favour and try...
... Nas4free.
FreeNAS releases version 11 so let's put the unpleasantness of failed V.10 behind us Version 11 of FreeNAS has emerged, hopefully without the bugs that saw the open source project release version 10 and then downgrade it to a mere “tech preview” a month later. That demotion came about because version 10, aka “Corral”, behaved …
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Then you don't know what you're talking about. Virtualization allow userland processes to be entirely separated from the main kernel. Therefore, you can run Kodi, Samba, or anything else you like without the risk of it crashing the main kernel. Bhyve is a very lightweight hypervisor and is built specifically for the FreeBSD kernel, which makes it particularly efficient.
Maybe that doesn't make sense on an arm board or an old PC, but on the 6-core Xeon with 96GB of ram that I use with FreeNAS 8.3, it's a pretty good idea. I'd upgrade my rig, but it's been running unattended so long, I don't even know if I can find it...
Several reasons for running VMs on a NAS:
There are many reasons, just because none appeal to you does not mean others are wrong to do so.
Well - for one I like the option of running VMs at home.
Currently running an ESXi rig with VCSA on top.
Too much hassle (BTW - I configure and maintain VMware from time to time for living so *I like to think I know what I am doing*).
Have my FreeNAS as VM with HW pass-through to LSI SAS.
Was planning to ditch the ESXi and replace it with FreeNAS 10 bare metal installation.
Even have a few containers doing bits and bobs on top of Coral.
This will now have to wait until ... forever?
Boo-hoo.
Depends on your situation. If you are running some big important system it would be very wise to keep the NAS simply serving files, and any VMs running on dedicated servers.
But if you are a typical home / small business it might be your NAS is lightly used and so why have two machines, at roughly double the cost/power/noise, if you can also run a VM for something you need to access from more than one client?
I can imagine a set of scenarios when VM could make sense when running on a NAS (or, more general, a SAN node in an enterprise environment). That is when one needs to share the files on the network using network protocol which, for some reason, cannot be run natively on a node/appliance, for example due to authentication domain isolation (e.g. appliance/node is not a member of a relevant Kerberos realm, but a VM can be). Other reasons for not running network protocol natively on a node/appliance (and in a VM instead) may include support level, separation of configuration management, or plain and old software availability.
Of course the assumption is that there is some protocol allowing a VM to access native filesystem in a controlled manner - I know in kvm I would use p9 but no idea what could be used in bhyve.
@Bronek
Yep. I run 3 VM's on an OpenMediaVault (OMV) NAS due to certain network traffic and versioning. OMV doesn't run the latest of anything, so unless I want to run an entire seperate peice of hardware for a few things used seldomly, VM's it is.
For example, running a media server directly out of the NAS but in a separate environment so if something goes wrong the whole NAS isn't affected? Running a backup server software?
In some lab scenarios for training? I could go on... but the fact you can doesn't mean you always should - but it's welcome in some scenarios.