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Following the unavoidable shift in the Linux ecosystem, OviOS 6 drops SysV and moves to systemd. The list of new features includes a browser-based dashboard, S3-compatible object storage, NVMe over Fabrics, auditd security auditing, Cockpit integration, the ability to run entirely from the system memory via PXE network boot, and more.
According to the official release notes (see the Source link for all the details), OviOS Linux 6 marks “a significant generational upgrade to the OviOS storage platform — modernised internals, expanded protocol support, and the same guided simplicity administrators rely on.”
With this release, this specialized distro moves from SysV to systemd, leaving behind the init system that has been in maintenance-only mode for years. For OviOS, the decision to make the move was easier due to the fact that new versions of Samba, NFS utilities, iSCSI tools, and security daemons ship only with systemd unit files.
OviOS 6 comes with the Linux kernel 7.0 stable alongside ZFS 2.4.2. The system is LSB compliant and targets x86_64 hardware. The list of new features includes the following:
- OviOS Web Monitor, a browser-based dashboard with live pool health, ARC statistics, iSCSI session tracking, and more.
- Full Cockpit web console to complement the data provided by the OviOS interface.
- S3-compatible object storage, compatible with AWS SDK clients, rclone, and more.
- NVMe over Fabrics.
- Security auditing via auditd, a daemon integrated into the service stack.
- PXE/network boot, allowing OviOS to run entirely from RAM.
- Improved ZFS ARC tuning, with per-pool sync mode, AutoTRIM, and ARC size controls via the options command, providing live tuning without reboots.
In addition to the above, old OviOS users should know that old commands from the previous version, such as pool, lun, target, or service, work as they did before. The aforementioned new capabilities come as additional layers available if/when needed and don’t replace the old approach.
Dubbed “Polaris”, OviOS 6 comes in a 1.4 GB ISO file that can be retrieved from this page.
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Codrut Nistor – Senior Tech Writer – 6792 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013
In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I’ve been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
Codrut Nistor, 2026-05-28 (Update: 2026-05-28)
