Top ESOS Alternatives for Your Enterprise Storage Needs

ESOS (Enterprise Storage OS) is a powerful quasi-Linux distribution built on the SCST project, designed to transform a server into a robust SCSI target for your Storage Area Network (SAN). It enables shared block-level storage volumes, perfect for VMFS datastores, Windows NTFS, and Linux disks. While ESOS offers excellent functionality, organizations often seek ESOS alternatives for various reasons, including specific feature requirements, different platform preferences, or a desire for open-source flexibility. This article explores some of the best alternatives to ESOS, helping you find the perfect storage solution for your enterprise.

Top ESOS Alternatives

Whether you're looking for open-source flexibility, specific feature sets, or a different underlying platform, these ESOS alternatives offer compelling solutions for your network-attached storage and SAN requirements.

OpenMediaVault

OpenMediaVault is a next-generation network-attached storage (NAS) solution built upon Debian Linux. As a free and open-source, self-hosted platform, it offers a wide range of services including SSH, (S)FTP, SMB/CIFS, and a DAAP media server, making it a versatile ESOS alternative for those prioritizing ease of use and broad feature support, including SFTP and Docker integration.

FreeNAS

FreeNAS is an operating system that stands out as a strong ESOS alternative, designed to be installed on virtually any hardware to facilitate data sharing over a network. This free, open-source, BSD-based, and self-hosted solution focuses on being lightweight, secure, stable, and offers virtualization capabilities, making it ideal for creating centralized storage with robust performance.

Unraid

Unraid is a commercial Linux-based operating system tailored for personal and small business use, bringing enterprise-class features to configure computer systems for maximized performance. It serves as a compelling ESOS alternative by offering unique features like parity drives for data redundancy, backup solutions including encrypted backups, file-based storage, a built-in hypervisor, remote management, and robust virtualization capabilities, all contributing to a comprehensive storage solution.

XigmaNAS

XigmaNAS, formerly NAS4Free, is an embedded open-source Storage NAS distribution based on FreeBSD. As a free, open-source, BSD-based, and self-hosted platform, it provides essential features like an FTP server and support for S.M.A.R.T. data, making it a solid ESOS alternative for users seeking a continuation of a well-regarded open-source NAS project with a focus on stability and core storage functionalities.

Rockstor

Rockstor is a free and open-source NAS operating system that can be installed on commodity hardware or a hypervisor. Based on CentOS Linux, this self-hosted ESOS alternative stands out with its support for SFTP, WebDAV, and most notably, its native support for BTRFS, offering advanced data integrity and management features, making it a modern and flexible choice for storage needs.

Amahi Home Server

The Amahi Home Server is a free and open-source solution designed for home and small office environments, available across multiple platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS. As an ESOS alternative, it simplifies networking and offers features like Nextcloud integration, backup, dynamic DNS, file sharing, music streaming, and VPN capabilities, catering to users who prioritize ease of use and a wide range of integrated services beyond just basic storage.

SnapRAID

SnapRAID offers a disk array backup solution with snapshot RAID capabilities. As a free and open-source tool available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, it serves as a straightforward ESOS alternative for users primarily focused on data backup and redundancy using a snapshotted RAID approach, without the full complexity of a complete operating system.

ReadyNAS

ReadyNAS OS is a commercial Linux-based operating system exclusive to NETGEAR's ReadyNAS products. This paid ESOS alternative offers comprehensive file sharing, robust networking capabilities, SSH access, and a built-in web server, all controlled via a web interface. It's ideal for users seeking a pre-built, feature-rich NAS solution backed by commercial support.

PetaSAN

PetaSAN is an open-source, scale-out SAN solution for Linux that offers massive scalability and performance by leveraging modern cloud-based technologies. This free and open-source ESOS alternative provides the elasticity required for demanding enterprise environments, making it suitable for those needing a highly scalable and high-performance block storage solution.

StorPool

StorPool is a commercial, intelligent software-defined storage solution for Linux, supporting a wide range of distributions and hypervisors including SUSE Linux Enterprise, CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, VMware vSphere Hypervisor, and Microsoft Hyper-V Server. As a robust ESOS alternative, StorPool provides enterprise-grade features such as HCI support, high availability, Infiniband support, automatic recovery, backups and disaster recovery, cloud storage, data tiering, Ethernet support, fault tolerance, iSCSI support, QoS, thin provisioning, TRIM/Discard, virtualization, zeroes detection, and Kubernetes integration, making it ideal for cloud builders and large enterprises.

The right ESOS alternative depends entirely on your specific requirements, budget, and existing infrastructure. Whether you need a fully open-source solution, a commercial product with dedicated support, or something in between, the options above provide a solid starting point for finding the best fit for your enterprise storage area network.