Debian

Based on that generic request, you’re just going to get everyone’s personal favourite server OS here. You’ll need to give more details to get something tailored to your needs.

1. What’s the hardware?
2. Debian, imho

I love how every answer so far is Debian.

Debian is the correct answer.

Using a debian base (OMV6) with docker. Container is maintained by linuxserver.io
No issues so far beyond myself botching permissions but anyone competent should be able to do it.

I would like to recommend an Ubuntu Server LTS which is almost as solid as Debian in my opinion but with many useful features like nonfree drivers accessible right away and newer packages.

I’m using Debian, with Docker and running Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Navidrome and Wireguard on Containers on my old laptop. So that would be my suggestion.

You could install CasaOS and/or Portainer, on top of Debian if you want an easier way to manage your server and containers.

I’m running Fedora Server + Cosmos Cloud. Freaking awesome. Fedora Server comes bundled with Cockpit, which makes admin work much easier, and Cosmos Cloud makes Docker very easy, and automates your security.

It doesn’t matter what your host os is, if you’re using docker. Choose whichever one you like more

Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora should be good (in that order); I’m not very aware on truenas to give an opinion, but it seems it will work just as well from other comments.

I personally use Fedora, and it’s been a solid experience too, with the only gripe bring SELinux. I required a fix for SELinux, but it has worked flawlessly since.

However SELinux might make it annoying to work with containers, so you could consider either switching it off, using another distro or using appropriate configurations to work with it correctly.

Debian or Fedora

Debian if you want something easy and stable, Fedora if you want latest updates and are comfortable with occasional SELinux settings, TrueNAS if you don’t want to spend any time at all setting up disks

Ubuntu if you want infinite dependency hell and 5 minute boot times

Whatever you’re most comfortable with. It’s a simple enough ask that you can do it in Ubuntu server or Debian quite easily.

I would recommend at least using docker but you don’t have to.

Truenas isn’t very forgiving with drive configuration. I really like it but it isn’t great for randomly adding drives here and there. Unraid might be a better choice for home usage. I have never had good luck with their built in app stuff but I’ve also never really tried past it not doing what I want.

I run truenas with a ubuntu server vm and docker some stuff in that. I also run proxmox on another server and a dev server running Ubuntu server that I docker things on.

Proxmox. I’ve been using it and deployed jellyfin in a container, they have a bunch of one-click deployments and it’s great. Or you can just use a VM to group Docker containers together. Having a beautiful web interface is huge, Plus being able to access that interface from anywhere via WireGuard/Tailscale is great.

If you do choose to go down this route, there is a “no-nag proxmox” script somewhere, and it will disable some warnings and give you deeper customization options. Well worth a look!

TrueNAS did make it easy for me to manage my home lab, but I’m more of a software engineer than a devops. Debian if you’re comfortable with managing that.

I use RHEL/Rocky 8 for all my home server stuff mostly because i like my home server stuff boring and stable.

Since you were considering TrueNAS, maybe consider something like Debian/Ubuntu + CasaOS. That will give you a good base and webui to work with.

It’s not going to be a lean as it could be but it should give you enough guard rails and hand holding to get you started. Then you can figure out the rest of your needs from there. If you don’t like it you can always wipe it and try again with something else.

I’d stay away from the TrueNAS, Unraid, Proxmox, etc. mostly due to your hardware and that it’s your first home server.

They’re not bad at all, but a lot of the stuff is abstracted from you and since you’re more than likely going to want to tinker with it having a standardized base install with a distro that has a lot of documentation is going to be very helpful.