OpenMediaVault
OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free, Debian-based NAS operating system with a web UI for disks, file systems, shares and services, extended by plugins such as omv-extras.
Documentation: OpenMediaVault Docs Project: OpenMediaVault · omv-extras installer
See also: TrueNAS Community Edition · Unraid · UniFi NAS · NAS Operating Systems Compared · RAID with mdadm · LVM · NFS · Docker Compose · rsync · NUT (Network UPS Tools)
Version and Install #
| FACT | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Current line | OMV 8 “Synchrony” on Debian 13 (changelog entry 8.6.1-1, 2026-10-30) |
| Previous line | OMV 7 “Sandworm” on Debian 12; end-of-life date unverified |
| Install methods | ISO to a dedicated drive (recommended on x86); USB stick, SD card or existing Debian install (the ARM route) |
| Not supported | LXC and other containers |
| Default web login | admin / openmediavault (change it straight away) |
First steps from the install docs: note the IP on the console login screen, disable root SSH under Services > SSH, and create a non-privileged user in the _ssh and sudo groups.
Storage and Shares #
| AREA | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Docs sections | Disks (power, wipe), SMART (settings, scheduled tests), RAID (overview, grow), Filesystems, Shared Folders (permissions, ACLs) |
| Service docs | Samba, FTP, NFS, SSH, rsync (jobs and server) |
| RAID, ZFS, LVM, mergerfs, SnapRAID | Via plugins and mdadm; levels and plugin names not verified here (unverified) |
| Mount paths | /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-<UUID> style (unverified) |
omv-extras and Docker #
omv-extras is installed with a script from the plugin developers’ GitHub (pipes a download into a root shell, so read it first). The command is on the installer page; the compose plugin and Portainer steps are not verified here (unverified).
CLI #
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
omv-upgrade | Upgrade packages (run after an ISO install) |
omv-release-upgrade | Move to the next release (referenced in the changelog; not found in the docs) |
omv-salt deploy run <MODULE> | Re-deploy one configuration module, for example nginx, samba, nfs, ssh, fstab |
omv-salt stage run prepare / omv-salt stage run deploy | Prepare and deploy all modules |
omv-env list / omv-env get <NAME> / omv-env set <NAME> <VALUE> | Environment variables kept in /etc/default/openmediavault |
omv-firstaid | Console recovery menu (exists in source; not in the docs) |
Configuration Locations #
| PATH | CONTENT |
|---|---|
/etc/openmediavault/config.xml | The configuration database |
/srv/salt/omv/deploy | Salt deploy modules |
/etc/default/openmediavault | omv-env variables |
To change fstab mount options, edit the <fstab> entries in config.xml, run omv-salt deploy run fstab, then reboot.
Gotchas #
- Salt deploys regenerate service config files, so hand edits to generated files may be overwritten (inferred, unverified).
- Not found in the official docs: backup, snapshot and update-management plugin details, the pending-changes banner and boot-media wear guidance.