Most home Network-Attached Storage (NAS) units spend their lives doing one thing and one thing only: holding large amounts of data. The NAS waits, like a coiled spring, ready to serve up a file or two when the need arises. But that’s only a fraction of what most modern NAS devices can do.
Yes, at its core, a NAS is a way to store data, either on spinning hard disks or solid-state storage. But under the hood, it’s likely powered by a fully-fledged Linux operating system. That operating system, in turn, likely runs on a capable x86 chip. And it’s that chip, often paired with plenty of RAM, that turns the humble NAS into something more akin to a home server. A server capable of running virtual machines.
The untapped power of the NAS
They’re miniature computers now
To understand how a NAS can run virtual machines, we first have to look at how it’s built and how it works. The days of a home NAS with an underpowered, stripped-down spec sheet are long gone. These days, systems from Synology, QNAP, and even open-source alternatives from TrueNAS are built on firmer footing. That means Linux or FreeBSD software running on 64-bit Intel or AMD chips.
Those chips hold the key to a NAS’s virtualization chops. They also support Intel VT-x or AMD-V, enabling virtualization with almost no performance penalty. Carve out enough CPU, RAM, and storage, and you can have a capable virtual machine up and running in no time at all.
Even better, it comes in a form factor built to use as little space and power as possible. That’s vital for any device that is likely to be left to its own devices, running 24/7. And because you already own it, you don’t have to buy additional hardware just to run a virtual machine.
Synology’s secret weapon
Leveraging containerization
While many NAS units can run virtualized machines, overkill for most people. Instead, what they really need is containerization. Docker is a popular option for that, and Synology owners can use it. Synology NAS units have supported running Docker containers for years via its Container Manager software.
Rather than running an entire virtualized operating system, Docker containers share the host system’s Linux kernel and package only the user’s chosen application and its dependencies. They run in an isolated container that can spin up in seconds and uses a fraction of the system resources a full-fat virtual machine would require.
Containerization can be a great stepping stone for anyone looking to dip their toes into the world of virtualization. It offers similar benefits (isolation, flexibility) while requiring fewer resources — a huge boon for older, lower-powered NAS units.
TrueNAS Scale
Real, KVM virtualization
While containerization is a great entry point, it can’t quite compare with the virtualization capabilities of TrueNAS SCALE. This heavy-duty solution offers the full-fat virtualization I mentioned earlier, all based on a Debian Linux foundation. And that opens the door to running a native Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor.
Using KVM on TrueNAS SCALE turns your otherwise boring storage device into a platform that is capable of running real virtual machines. Those virtual machines can run your choice of operating system, including Windows 11.
While Synology’s containerization approach is perfect for lower-power NAS units, TrueNAS Scale leverages higher-spec hardware with direct hardware pass-through support — including PCIe expansion cards and GPU processing. This means that TrueNAS Scale virtual machines are well suited to high-performance tasks like hardware-accelerated video rendering and AI workloads.
Importantly, TrueNAS Scale does all of this while still performing the standard tasks that we expect from a NAS device. It just does those tasks while opening the door to so many more possibilities.
Stop treating your NAS as a dumb drive
It’s capable of so much more
Virtualization and containerization are features of all kinds of NAS units and software, not just those mentioned here. There’s a good chance that the NAS in your closet can do some or all of these things; you just didn’t know about it yet.
But now, you do, and it means you can start to make much better use of your NAS. Whether that’s to run a Pi-hole instance to take control of your network’s DNS needs or to run a media server all your own, it’s time to put that NAS to work.