Leaderboard

First, let me start by saying I actually really appreciate this question and I hope my answer gives you faith in our long-term sustainability, exactly as you mention in the title of this thread. The lifetime license model is appropriate for a very particular type of customer with very specific priorities: Bring your own hardware Doesn't want an ongoing subscription Will mostly support themselves It was the appropriate model to launch with as well because it allowed us to inject a larger cash infusion at the start. However, we see multiple additional revenue streams available to us in the future: Subscription-based licensing. A lower price of entry for customers that aren't ready to make the lifetime commitment. Support. A more premium support model that can help you on a 1:1 basis when you have issues with your server. Cloud-based Services. Things like cloud backups (as an alternative or in addition to buddy backup). There are other cloud-assisted services such as reverse-proxy/relay that may warrant a subscription as well. Hardware products We will never force anyone to buy a specific hardware product to use HexOS, but we may offer some for those that don't want to build their own in the future. We actually have a few other ideas for additional offerings as well that would add additional revenue streams to Eshtek, but those are a little premature to discuss at this point. Bottom line: we don't just have a product plan, we have a full business plan for the future of this company and it has been designed to ensure a few key things: We don't run out of cash. We don't have to take on outside investors. We can remain true to our mission and vision. I hope this answers your question and gives you more confidence in our plans for the future. And if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

If you're seeing 'Failed to start transient service unit: Unit websocat.service was already loaded or has a fragment file', then you can try: sudo systemctl restart websocat

Try the following. Most likely this will fix your issue. If this does, TrueNAS has a fix that is in it's next update. Login to TrueNAS interface. Left side select "system". Then after screen refreshes select "shell" from the list. Paste in the following command. *Can't use normal short cuts* Will need to use Shift + Insert Key for pasting. sudo python /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/scripts/vendor_service.py If that works within about 1 min you should be able to go to deck.hexos.com and see your server or claim it. You might need to run this after reboots. Let us know if this works. Thank you,

I... I was... I would have.... FUUUUUUUU-- Ordinarily, I would absolutely have tried another USB, and I actually was trying a bit ago, but that drive was being funky and wouldn't connect to Windows well and I gave up. I completely overlooked trying Balena Etcher (Rufus has always been rock solid for me so I never bother thinking aoub it) but NOW THAT YOU'VE SAID IT I feel like I remember needing to use it for CORE back in the day TOO! I am an IDIOT! Anyway, I grabbed a third USB, Etcher, and a new copy of the .iso, and set it all up again, and wouldn't you know it, the damn thing worked. Installed HexOS to the SSD, plugged in the HDDs and went to boot, and the box picked up the data drives to boot to. I thought I wasn't out of the weeds yet, but on a whim I tried re-enabling the B120i and going in and deleting the RAID array on the drives but keeping the single "array" on the SSD, which allows me to set the logical array as bootable in the B120i. Rebooted and... LOOK! HexOS!! I am as much at fault as any part of the technology in this thread, but in the end, through all that crap, and with your help, we got there, so... THANK YOU very much!!

Hey, please keep us posted about the progress. Concerning why you shouldn't use a HW Raid in combination with Truenas, the official ZFS documentation has a great section about this you find it here: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Performance and Tuning/Hardware.html#hardware-raid-controllers

Hey, The quickest check which you can do; when you connect a display to your server, what IP address is shown? 10.0.0.28 or a different one?

Hey, that is a nice setup and will allow you to run a lot of stuff on your server 🙂 Some things to consider: You can only us the boot drive for the OS, 32GB are more then enough, 500GB are overkill, but you can still use it with 2 drives, Hexos will create a mirrored pool, which means you will have the capacity of 1 drive (4TBs in your case) and you can lose 1 drive. Additionally a mirrored Pool cannot be extended. If you want to have the possibility to extend the pool in the future, you need to have at least 3 drives now to create a RaidZ1. A RaidZ1 can be extended with additional drives in the future and you will have the capacity of your smallest drive * (the number of drives - 1) Your Motherboard has a Realtek NIC, which have a tendency to not work well or at all with Hexos. It's a new 5Gbps NIC which might work better, but keep this in mind if you face network issues. Hexos is an awesome, easy to use OS and offers exactly what you need to get started. It offers both Plex and Jellyfin as 1 click install apps, so that you have the choice what you want to use. It also offers other popular apps as 1 click installs and more apps will be supported in the future.

Hello @jonp, I really appreciate your detailed response. Thanks a lot.

I'm personally hoping there is some consulting in the mix as well. I man above what would be deem to be general support issues. For instance, every app I run is accessed by HTTP not HTTPS. I would love someone to point me to suitable options that would help secure my system. And as an example, and only an example, it could dramatically increase my satisfaction with HexOS without actually making any changes to the core product. And if they develop a great solution for someone they can make it available for anyone who needs it either as contract work or as an addon service. It can all mesh together improving my experience and many others overall.

Hello, It seems the after the update some systems on reboot are reaching out to our server so it doesn't know your there. Try the following. Login to TrueNAS interface. Left side select "system". Then after screen refreshes select "shell" from the list. Paste in the following command. Can't use normal short cuts Will need to use Shift + Insert Key for pasting. sudo python /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/middlewared/scripts/vendor_service.py If that works within about 1 min you should be able to go to deck.hexos.com and see your server or claim it.

For this, the fix was to in HexOS go into Settings > Reset > Unclaim System. Then reclaim the server and it should be fine. From what I can tell it gets like that because when you reclaim the server before restoring the config backup in TrueNAS the API key is different than what HexOS has so when you reclaim the server it checks and see the API key in TrueNAS and uses that. Sidenote if you are importing your config file back into TrueNAS for the apps if they are gone and nothing happens after you set the pool, try unsetting (unset pool) then select the pool again it and then it takes a bit to run through the HDDs and bam it comes back.

As the title said, I have been holding out since I purchased the key. Recently heard on the LTT podcast that 1.0 was launching at the end of March. Is that still the plan? I haven't seen an official blog update in a few months.

So, I built twin HexOS systems (almost) in Jonsbo N5's 1 Ryzen 9 9900X (12C/24T) and 1 Ryzen 7 9700X (8C/16T) 1 RTX 4070 TI and 1 RTX 3070 For both: MSI Mag X870E Tomahawk 96GB DDR5 Boot - Crucial P310 1TB in Raid 1. Storage - 4 x Seagate Ironwolf Pro 4TB RaidZ1 1000w Modular PSU PCIE X8 SAS card and onboard to connect all 12 bays in the N5 Intel X550T2 Dual 10GbE NIC Full case fan replacement with Nocuta fans and a NH D15 cooler. Mirrored backups between the system over Tailscale and one machine moved from my house to the workshop 30mins away for offsite actual a backup backup. Too much? ETA- I built them in August last year, before things got...too crazy

Hello, One way that could fix this is to do the following. Update to TrueNAS version 25.10.2.1. which applies permanent resource limit fixes. Thank you

Sorry if this has been mentioned already. There needs to be a way to store a boot disk config or recovery file on one of the arrays to allow easy recover of a dead boot drive (all done within HexOS! I shouldn't have to go into truenas if I don't know what I'm doing). I did install on redundant boot drives but bought too cheap and they both failed simultaneously. The only way I could find to recover was a fresh install without the array drives connected, then plug them in and manually recreate the exact share folder names in the HexOS from the list in truenas. Also, I would love to see a way to transfer or transition the boot drive to another drive by simply connecting a new drive. That way if all you had for a boot drive was a 1 Tb but wanted to use that for something else later you could get a smaller drive and transition.

I can confirm that if you do a fresh install you can set up the folders again and have access to all data, but you need to do things in a specific order and with the array disks unplugged (if you try to set up a new array through HexOS interface it will wipe the drives). If you know all your folders now you won't need to go into into truenas. I really think there needs to be a recovery feature in case of boot drive failure. Here's a link to a thread with good instructions on how to recover, but it would work to "downgrade" as well, though kinda janky. I would assume cloning would work as well but haven't tried it. https://hub.hexos.com/topic/3227-restoring-hexos-from-a-dead-boot-drive/

With all the other apps curated so far it would be awesome to see nginx curated for DNS and HTTPS resolving. It already exists in truenas scale as Nginx Proxy Manager. This would allow hex os users to access their apps externally without VPN hosting, to resolve DNS requests and utilize https.

The reason Tailscale gets recommended so often is because it (and VPNs in general) is the most secure ways to access your services remotely. It's also pretty easy to install and get running. Nginx, on the other hand, is a completely different approach. To make lives a bit easier, let's take Nginx Proxy Manager instead of plain Nginx. Installing it is the easy part. The real work starts afterwards. You’ll usually need a domain, set up a DNS token for the certificate DNS challenge, configure something to keep your public IP updated, and create and manage all your subdomains. And all of that just to make your services reachable from outside your network. Once you’ve done that, your services are basically exposed to the entire internet. That means any device online can try to reach them. Because of that, you also need to put additional security measures in place to protect them from people trying to access or exploit them. Therefore only expose what you absolutely need to expose.

You rock, interesting fact, Chat GPT highlighted this post. Giving you Credit because i was also trying to fix this.

I had the same issue where HEX Deck would not recognize my server (deck said it was offline) but TrueNas UI worked. I realized it was my fault, I blocked it on my ubiquiti firewall accidentally when i was troubleshooting another issue. That's why truenas works because the HEX OS Deck has to call to Eshtek's server and the truenas ui does not. to answer another question in this forum, the local ui will mask this issue, not fix, because it will allow local connection, but wont change the fact that your server is blocked from external internet firewall level so connected to Eshtek wont work (only for this exact issue though). Another symptom of this exact issue was truenas did not have external internet access either, the app catalog was failing to update. Good luck to you guys hopefully this helps.

Hi I wrote the next blog https://www.gingerling.co.uk/how-easy-is-hexos-to-resurrect-when-youve-ignored-it-for-3-months-because-you-had-a-new-boyfriend/

I have always purchased new exos drives from ebay. My last batch came straight from seagate themselves.

Nor do I! As I said I've always had a great time with Rufus so I didn't even think about it - that said, Rufus DOES, of late, pop up a note about the ISO image type, and not having all the files it needs when preparing to write the HexOS ISO - see below: This reads to me as "click yes and everything will proceed according to plan" but, there could easily be something going wrong during the 'attempt to download' the required GRUB file(s). I should really have thought more about these when I saw them but, because HexOS load(ed) at least initially, and because the image seems to show up fine, I assumed it wasn't a problem, and made the proverbial ass of myself. Thanks again for all your help here, sincerely! I still might reserve the right to be mean to my NAS for a while just to let out my frustrations 😆

Happy to see that it's working now for you. 🙂 I still don't understand why this makes a difference which software you are using to create the USB drive, but hey at least it's running now. =D

In that case, did you try another USB drive or just 1 single drive? Also try using Etcher instead of Rufus.

The above messages are coming after selecting the boot drive where Hexos should be installed or beforehand?

Hey, You changed the Truenas GUI ports, that's the problem. The Hexos button is pointing to the port 443 (https) or 80 (http) but nothing on the server is listening at that port thus the rejection. You currently cannot change the destination ports of the truenas gui button in Hexos. To keep its functionality, you need to revert back to the ports 80/443. If you want to keep your custom ports, bookmark the page in your browser 🙂

Hey it would be cool to have a straight forward way to install Nextcloud (e.g. the all in one edition https://nextcloud.com/blog/how-to-install-the-nextcloud-all-in-one-on-linux/) on HexOS. I set it up myself on my homelab, but the setup was not as easy and while the software itself works great, I'm not as satisfied with my implementation. It offers a lot of features with a client that is available on a lot of devices already, essentially substituting Cloud storage, Google Calender, Contacts, Office products, Slack (e.g. for small businesses) and as I just saw even LLM like ChatGPT. This would add huge additional value to HexOS, since you easily could substitute a lot of subscriptions that way, while having enormous privacy benefits, a thing the target audience of HexOS would surely profit of. Especially if there is also a way to safely expose it to the internet.

Next cloud has already been curated by HexOS

this is correct however there is one more limitation, only pools that consist of 3 or more storage drives can be expanded. 2 drive pools have no option for expansion 3+ drive pools can be expanded with drives of the same or larger capacity of the smallest drive in the pool yes if you have a pool that has 4 drives you can add another later to increase the pool size, giving you more space

Forgot to update when I did this, but replaced my 8TB drives w/ 24GB ones when they were on sale. Glad I went for it since those drives are MUCH more expensive now.

This fixed my issue I was having with HA, thank you! 🙏

So i decided to build a NAS to rip my movie collection and to tinker with some future projects when i have the time to learn about VM and AI I have a 9950x i got from a friend and 64gb of ram i bought 2 years ago for 340 dollars can you believe it i miss those times A used 5060ti 16gb found for cheap so i said to myself why not build a NAS it will be nice project during my free time. So i bought ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming motherboard , i have an old m.2 500gb for the os another 2tb nvme ssd for apps or whatever and i have two 4tb hdd laying around and i wanted something easy to use as the OS My question is what is the best approach for this build should i go for the hexOS and if yes how should i configure the ssd's to avoid any issues and i'm planning to add more hdd in the future once i figure out how to use a NAS Keep in mind I'm just a simple PC gamer never tired something like that, I'm a NAS and networking virgin. Thank you in advance any advice will help.

Hey, Unfortunately Hexos does not offer the possibility to use any drive as a write cache, you can only use it as a read only cache drive, which only offers a benefit in particular use cases and streaming isn't one of them. You can use your current 500GB drive for the OS it's just a lot of wasted space. But if that's what you have and don't want to spent ridiculous amount of money for a new lower size SSD, go with the 500GB one. You don't necessarily need a new NIC, it's just possible that your current will not work, but not a certainty. Some of the newer Realtek NICs work fine. Give it a go and only buy a new NIC if yours isn't working or causing issues.

https://www.gingerling.co.uk/how-easy-is-hexos-to-resurrect-when-youve-ignored-it-for-3-months-because-you-had-a-new-boyfriend/ Enjoy 🙂 Ax

I really appreciate all of your help. Thank you so much!!!

I think having a curated app for Matrix could be huge for HexOS since it could be a great and easy replacement for Discord.

At this time we are only curating applications that are available on the truenas app catalog and seems like matrix/synapse is not on the catalog at this time. I suggest you reach out to the developer of the app and request they submit their app to the truenas app catalog. Instructions on how they can do so can be found at https://github.com/truenas/apps/blob/master/CONTRIBUTIONS.md

Title says it all. Thanks.

I am not able to check it myself at the moment. But I would recommend you to attach a display and a keyboard to your server, also your USB with the OS. When you restart the server it should tell you a way to stop the boot sequence and enter your BIOS. From the BIOS you can set the USB as your boot device and then restart the server again. Now it should boot into the HexOS install sequence where it will reinstall everything from scratch, and you can decide whether or not you want to wipe your HDD/SSD pools. I recommend you to get the newest HexOS ISO file and put that on your USB before you go through this process 🙂

We push updates out now in the UI/UX itself too every time we do one. Check your notifications.

Hello, not sure if it was requested already, but a curation for the "Actual Budget" app would be greatly appreciated. I found it by looking at the apps tab, and did some more research on it and i would love to switch to it instead of my current app of Quicken since I pay yearly to use it. I think it would help many nowadays due to inflation. Thanks!

Hey, No this has been fixed months ago, with the Q1 update I believe.

I’ve changed the default port numbers on my TrueNAS web server to free up ports 80 and 443 for other services. However, from the HexOS portal, it still tries to connect using the standard ports when interacting with TrueNAS. For example, if I try to edit an app’s configuration or launch the TrueNAS configuration from the portal, I don’t get the correct interface. It would be great if the portal could detect the configured port numbers via the API, or allow these to be set manually in the HexOS settings.

Fyi, Q3 update went live today along with a new docs site: docs.hexos.com We are listening to you guys!

Saw your post and I’ll add this to the list for us to curate. Seems like a good one!!

I just recently started building my NAS and many of the containers I run I have seen in this form but I also have been using audiobookshelf to host my own library of audiobooks. I have to use it in conjunction with tailscale to access it out of my network so maybe it is not ideal for "simplicity", but I would love to see something like this come to HexOS in the future.

The more powerful hardware you use the more your electric bill will be. I would go with an Intel cpu to use Quick sync for your plex streams. It allows you to get away with using a less power hungry cpu. I would suggest any intel cpu that has a UHD 700 igpu. It will handle multiple 4k streams. The intel i5 12500 is a 65w cpu and can be bought new for $175 on Amazon US. The 12600k is on sale for $150 on Amazon US but is a 125w cpu. You can find better deals if you search /r/hardwareswap on reddit or search on ebay. Then grab the cheapest Z790 or B760 chipset motherboard that fits your needs/budget. With this CPU you can choose to get a motherboard that uses either DDR4 or DDR5.