When comparing OpenSUSE vs TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS), the Slant community recommends TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS) for most people. In the question“What are the best operating systems for a NAS/File server?” TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS) is ranked 2nd while OpenSUSE is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS) is:
It has full support for the Solaris ZFS filesystem.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Extremely reliable
The packaging team is dependable resulting in system updates that come in a timely fashion and systems which rarely, if ever, break due to packaging. The versions of software that are selected and the configuration of them is typically extremely high quality.
Pro Easy installation and administration
openSUSE makes use of a GUI tool called YaST to install and setup an openSUSE system.
YaST is very easy to use and makes the process of installing and maintaining an openSUSE installation a breeze.
Pro Easily get packages from other sources
SUSE Build Service offers packages from the same sources as Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise and other distributions. This is the most underused package tool in Linux today.
Pro Probably the best KDE desktop experience
Both Gnome and KDE desktop options are well polished to fit with the opensuse theme and environement, so either desktop is a great choice.
Pro Very stable
Stable, reliable, rock solid.
Pro Amazing choice for both newbies and power users
OpenSUSE is very easy in terms of installing packages, administration and customization, yet very powerful in the same. Every user should find his own piece of cake in this OS.
Pro Supports RPM packages
Popular format shared with distros like Fedora, RHEL, Scientific Linux, Mageia etc.
Pro Built-in drivers
Does the job needed and has the hardware drivers for the application built-in by the H/W supplier.
Pro Dedicated professional community
Directions on other desktop Linux's often force you to use GUI packages or have steps that introduce security issues.
OpenSUSE has a professional community and directions are usually geared toward GUI and CLI with similar steps.
Pro "Tumbleweed" Rolling Release
Regular and easy upgrades to stable and well tested software.
Pro Feature rich
It comes standard with a large number of pre-added applications that sort out your day-to-day use.
Pro YaST
Best administration and setup tool.
Pro One-Click install
Much better system then other distros for installing any package. It is as simple as clicking on one button and typing in your password. Adds a repo to your system keeping everything updated at the same time.
Pro Fast
Applications feel fast.
Pro Convenient package management with Zypper
Fast, reliable, powerful and almost impossible to leave a broken system.
The Yast interface will also give you access to a Zypper GUI if you are uncomfortable with the command line.
Pro Outstanding community support
OpenSUSE has a VERY active user community. Questions on forums are generally answered in minutes.
Pro Native ZFS support
It has full support for the Solaris ZFS filesystem.
Pro Traditional Init-system
It uses a traditional UNIX init system.
Pro No systemd
So if some errors appear on boot the system will still boot and you can repair it via ssh.
Pro Solid BSD core
It runs on the stable FreeBSD kernel.
Pro Can use plugins
It's able to use Plugins.
Pro Many Plugins
There are many plugins available.
Pro VSS (Volume Shadow Copy) supported natively in SMB (Samba)
Cons
Con Some clear differences from other Linux distros
This might be a systemd issue or OpenSUSE specific, but changing certain text files does not update things. They must be edited in YaST, or in /etc/sysconfig/
Con Old kernel by the Leap version
Kernel in Leap 42.3 is in version 4.4, that's pretty old.
Con Poor support for nVidia drivers in Tumbleweed
No native driver support and nouveau may be broken, especially for KDE, and not suitable for some GPUs.
Con Bloated and slow
Con Short lived distro
Every release lasts 18 months only before needing a major upgrade.
Con Updates
Not a huge problem, but Tumbleweed is better updated via the command line.
Con Massive ISO download
The base ISOs are over 4 gigs, so be prepared for a very long DL if you have slow internet. There's a network installer version, but that just delays the long DL.
Con Bad support to NTFS fotmat.
Con Limited community support
The community is fairly small, and there is no indication on the forums regarding when a issues will be solved.
Con Packman repository has to be added to have good software support
Con Startup takes a long time
Con Updates
Not a huge problem, but Tubleweed is better updated via the command line.
Con Complex permissions policy
Con Permissions and sharing is not user friendly
For example, WebDAV access is limited to the single "webdav" user. Also, no other folks can log in to the main NAS UI besides the admin.
Con Only AMD64 (x86-64)
It does not have support for other CPU architectures.
Con Limited hardware support
BSD has less support for newer hardware compared to Windows or Linux.