OpenMediaVault

OpenMediaVault
Web interface (2025)
Developer	Volker Theile
Written in	Web interface: PHP, TypeScript (Angular)
OS family	Unix-like
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Initial release	17 October 2011 (2011-10-17)
Latest release	8.4.01  / 14 June 2026 (14 June 2026)
Repository	github.com/openmediavault/openmediavault/
Marketing target	Home user Small office / home office
Available in	English, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian2
Update method	APT
Package manager	dpkg
Supported platforms	IA-32 x86-64 ARM
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux)
Userland	GNU
Default user interface	Web-based
License	Free software (GPL v3)
Preceded by	FreeNAS v0.7
Official website	www.openmediavault.org

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS).³⁴ The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.⁵

By the end of 2009, Volker Theile was the only active developer of FreeNAS, a NAS operating system that Olivier Cochard-Labbé started developing from m0n0wall in 2005.⁶⁷⁸ m0n0wall is a variation of the FreeBSD operating system, and Theile decided he wanted to rewrite FreeNAS for Linux. The project team had known for months that FreeNAS needed a major rewrite in order to support crucial features.⁷ Since Cochard-Labbé preferred to stay with a FreeBSD-based system, he and Theile agreed that Theile would develop his Linux version under a different name;⁶ that name was initially coreNAS, but within a matter of days Theile discarded it in favour of OpenMediaVault.⁸

Theile chose Debian because the large number of programs in its package management system meant that he wouldn't have to spend time repackaging software himself.⁹ OpenMediaVault makes a few changes to the Debian operating system. It provides a Web-based user interface for administration and customisation, and a plug-in API for implementing new features. One can install plug-ins through the Web interface.

• Multi-language, Web-based graphical user interface¹⁰
• Protocols: CIFS (via Samba), FTP, NFS (versions 3 and 4), SSH, rsync, iSCSI, AFP and TFTP
• Software-RAID (levels 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, and 10, plus JBOD)
• Monitoring: Syslog, Watchdog, S.M.A.R.T., SNMP (v1, 2c, and 3) (read-only)
• Statistic reports via e-mail
• Statistic graphs for the CPU-workload, LAN transfer rates, hard disk usage and RAM allocation
• GPT/EFI partitioning >2 TByte possible
• File systems: ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, XFS, JFS, NTFS, FAT32 (ZFS with third-party plug-in)
• Quota
• User and group management
• Access controls via ACL
• Link aggregation bonding, Wake-on-LAN
• Plug-in system

By default, OpenMediaVault comes with a limited set of plug-ins. These include:

• AirPlay – Stream music wirelessly to your iPod/iPad/iPhone/iTunes.
• ClamAV – Antivirus software¹¹
• Diskstats – Complementary plugin to extend system statistics collection by adding I/O statistic graphs.
• Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) – provides audio files in a local network (also for iTunes)
• FileBrowser – File managing interface.
• FTP – Provides a modular FTP/SFTP/FTPS server.
• Logical Volume Manager – enables the possibility to create and administrate dynamic partitions
• Network UPS Tools, to support the use of an uninterruptible power supply
• OneDrive – Synchronizing a shared folder with Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.
• PhotoPrism – AI-powered app for browsing, organizing & sharing your photo collection.
• Podman – A tool for managing containers and images, volumes mounted into those containers, and pods made from groups of containers.
• S3 – MinIO based high-performance, S3 compatible object storage.
• ShareRootFs – Provides shared directories on root file system.
• SNMP
• TFTP
• USB Backup – Allows (automatic) backups to external USB hard disks
• WeTTY – Terminal access in browser over HTTP/HTTPS.

Additional plug-ins are available via additional package repositories. The majority of those Plug-ins are developed by a group called OpenMediaVault Plugin Developers.¹² The status of all Plug-ins can be viewed online.¹³ In October 2014 there were around 30 plugins available. In June 2015 there were more than 70 stable plug-ins available.

Some of the software that is controllable via third-party plug-ins are:¹⁴

• File synchronization: BitTorrent Sync and Syncthing
• Calibre – e-book manager
• Backup: Borg, Clonezilla, duplicati, rsnapshot and SystemRescueCD
• CUPS – print server
• Docker
• eXtplorer – Web-based file manager
• Greyhole, Union mount, and SnapRAID
• KVM
• Let's Encrypt
• Database servers: MySQL / MariaDB and PostgreSQL
• Nginx – Web server
• virtual private networking: OpenVPN and WireGuard
• Media servers: minidlna, Plex and Subsonic
• Download managers: pyLoad and JDownloader
• RDP
• Roundcube – Web-based mail client
• SYSLINUX – Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)
• Usenet download managers: Sickbeard, SABnzdb, Headphones, Couch Potato
• Transmission – a BitTorrent client
• Video Disk Recorder
• VirtualBox – virtual machine host
• WebDAV
• WordPress – blog software
• ZFS – an advanced file system
• and many more

• Any Architecture/hardware¹⁵¹⁶ that is supported by Debian
• 1 GiB RAM
• 4 GiB hard drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive with static wear leveling support for the OS.
• 1 hard drive, solid-state drive, or USB flash drive for storing user data

For each OpenMediaVault release, Theile chooses a project code name from Frank Herbert's Dune novels.¹⁷