As part of my continuing, Building My NAS series, I wrote about choosing TrueNAS as the software powering my homebuilt network attached storage device. One of the features of TrueNAS Scale has been the ability to run various self-hosted cloud applications. In the latest version of TrueNAS, the backend for those applications switches to Docker. Docker is arguably the most popular way to deploy pre-built complete applications. It not only isolates each application into its own container, but it simplifies the process of deploying and configuring them.

While the number of applications offered directly in TrueNAS, the switch to Docker allows for tens of thousands of public docker files to set up many more applications than are officially supported.

After years of installing applications on the servers that host them, I’ve reluctantly embraced Docker as a solution for when specific combinations are needed, such as specific versions of software. Looking at why other people use it, it is the…”it just works” philosophy. You can install an application, reinstall it cleanly, isolate it from other things…simplicity has its advantages.

It makes Docker a great way to quickly switch from third party services to your own. And combined with a system like TrueNAS providing storage solutions, it can create the basis for a complete solution for yourself and your home.