Learning FreeNAS

Gary Sims

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Overview

Table of Contents

The Author

Reviews

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Turn a PC into a Network Attached Storage server with FreeNAS
Configure, manage, and troubleshoot your FreeNAS installation
Up to date with the latest FreeNAS release
Includes a comprehensive troubleshooting section

Book Details

Language : English
Paperback : 244 pages [ 235mm x 191mm ]
Release Date : August 2008
ISBN : 1847194680
ISBN 13 : 978-1-847194-68-8
Author(s) : Gary Sims
Topics and Technologies : All Books, Networking & Telephony, Open Source

Preface
Chapter 1: All About NAS and FreeNAS
Chapter 2: Preparing to Add FreeNAS to Your Network
Chapter 3: Exploring FreeNAS
Chapter 4: Connecting to the FreeNAS
Chapter 5: User and System Administration
Chapter 6: Configuring Storage
Chapter 7: Backup Strategies
Chapter 8: Advanced System Configuration
Chapter 9: General Troubleshooting
Chapter 10: FreeBSD and Command Line Tools
Index

Preface

Chapter 1: All About NAS and FreeNAS
- Network Attached Storage
- What is FreeNAS?
- Features
- What Does FreeNAS Do for Me and My Business?
  - How FreeNAS Meet These Needs
  - Practical Uses for the FreeNAS Server
  - Consolidation
- Summary

Chapter 2: Preparing to Add FreeNAS to Your Network
- Planning Your NAS
  - Capacity Planning
  - Choosing Your Hardware
    - CPU
    - Disks
- Planning for Backup
- What is RAID? And, Do I Need It?
  - Hardware or Software RAID
- Network Considerations
  - Switch or Hub?
  - What About Wireless?
- Summary

Chapter 3: Exploring FreeNAS
- Downloading FreeNAS
- What Hardware Do I Need?
  - Warning
- Quick Start Guide For the Impatient
  - Burning and Booting
  - Configuring
  - Sharing with Windows Machines
  - Testing the Share
- Detailed Overview of Installation
  - Making the FreeNAS CD
  - Booting from CD
    - Phoenix BIOS
    - Phoenix-Award BIOS
    - AMI BIOS
  - First Look at FreeNAS
  - Configuring the Network
    - What is a LAN IP Address?
- Basic Configuration
  - FreeNAS Web Interface
    - System
    - Interfaces
    - Disks
    - Services
    - Access
    - Status
    - Diagnostics
    - Advanced
  - Adding a Disk
  - Accessing the Disk via CIFS
    - Testing the Share
  - Accessing via FTP
    - Testing FTP Access
- Installing to Hard Disk
  - Embedded versus Full
- Upgrading FreeNAS from a Previous Version
- Summary

Chapter 4: Connecting to the FreeNAS
- Introduction
- Connecting via CIFS
  - Configure CIFS on the FreeNAS Server
    - CIFS Settings Explained
    - CIFS Advanced Settings
    - Options when Adding Shares
  - What does It Mean to Map a Network Drive?
  - Connecting with CIFS via Windows Millennium
  - Using CIFS with Windows XP
  - FreeNAS, CIFS, and Windows Vista
  - Accessing the FreeNAS via CIFS from Linux
  - A CIFS Connection from OS X
- FTP
  - Using the Command Line FTP Client
  - Using a Web Browser for FTP
- NFS
  - Using NFS from OS X
  - Mount FreeNAS via NFS on Linux
- RSYNCD, Unison, AFP, and UPnP
  - Using RSYNC for Backups
  - Using Unison for Backups and Synchronization
  - Connecting to FreeNAS via AFP
  - Streaming Media with UPnP
- iSCSI Target
  - Testing the iSCSI Target with Another FreeNAS Server
  - Testing the iSCSI Target with Windows Vista
- Accessing Your Files Using HTTP and the Built-In Web Server
- Summary

Chapter 5: User and System Administration
- Introduction
- Local User Management
  - Using CIFS with Local Users
  - FTP and User Login
  - Authenticating AFP Users
  - Connect to the FreeNAS Server via SSH
  - Services that Don't Use Local User Accounts
- Using FreeNAS with the Microsoft Active Directory
- System Admin
  - How to Change the Web GUI User Name and Password
  - Rebooting and Shutting Down
  - How to Set the Hostname of the Server
  - Configuring the Web Interface to use HTTPS
  - Changing the Web Interface Port
  - How to Set a DNS Server
  - How to Set the Language for the Web Interface
  - Date and Time Configuration
  - How to Disable Console Menu
  - How to Stop the Startup and Shutdown Beeps
  - Adding Predefined Network Hosts
  - Reset the Server to the Factory Defaults
  - Simple Network Administration
  - Disabling Bonjour/ZeroConf
  - Getting Status Information About the Server
  - Sending Status Report by Email
- Summary

Chapter 6: Configuring Storage
- Introduction
- How FreeNAS Handles Data Disks
  - UNIX Device Names
  - Adding the Disk
  - Formatting a Newly Added Disk
  - Mounting Your Newly Formatted Disks
  - Making the New Disk Available on the Network
- Configuring Software RAID on FreeNAS
  - RAID All Starts with Adding the Disks
  - Configuring RAID 1
  - Configuring RAID 5
  - Configuring JBOD or RAID 0
  - Nested RAID Configurations
  - Configuring RAID 1+0
  - Configuring RAID 0+1
  - Configuring RAID 5+0
  - Configuring RAID 5+1
  - RAID 10+0 and Beyond
- iSCSI Initiator
- Summary

Chapter 7: Backup Strategies
- Backup Your FreeNAS Using Windows XP's Built-In Backup Utility
  - Setting Scheduled Backups with XP's Built-In Backup Utility
- Restoring a FreeNAS Backup Made with XP's Built-In Backup Utility
- Backing Up the FreeNAS Configuration Files
  - Backup Configuration
    - What is XML?
  - Restore Configuration
- Using Another FreeNAS Server as a Backup Server
  - Debugging Your RSYNC Setup
- RSYNC Internal Backup
  - Debugging Your Internal RSYNC Setup
- Mirroring vs Conventional Backups
- Summary

Chapter 8: Advanced System Configuration
- Disk Encryption
  - Encrypting a Disk in FreeNAS
  - Entering the Password When You Reboot
  - Encryption Tools
    - How to Unlock an Encrypted Disk—Attach and Detach
    - How to Change the Password on an Encrypted Disk—setkey
    - Checking the Status of an Encrypted Disk—list and status
- Advanced Hard Drive Parameters (S.M.A.R.T)
  - Enabling and using S.M.A.R.T of the FreeNAS
- File System Consistency Check—FSCK
- Advanced OS Tweaking
- Tweaking the Network Settings
  - MTU, Device Polling, Speed, and Duplex
  - Adding a Static Route
- Using Wireless
- Adding a Swap File
- Enabling Secure Shell Connections (SSH)
  - Allow Root Login
  - Types of SSH Authentication
- Summary

Chapter 9: General Troubleshooting
- Where to Look for Log Information
  - Diagnostics: Logs
  - Understanding Diagnostics—Logs: System
    - Converting between Device Names and the Real World
- Networking Problems
  - General Connection Problems
  - Using Ping
  - Using Ping from within the Web Interfaces
  - Using ARP Tables to Solve Network Problems
  - Gigabit Transfers are Slow
- Problems Connecting to Shares (via CIFS)
  - Windows Vista Asks for My Username and Password for Anonymous Shares
  - There are Two FreeNAS Servers on the Network, but Windows Can only See One
  - Turning On Logging to Help Solve Windows Networking Problems
- Diagnostics: Information
- Replacing a Failed Hard Drive in a RAID Set
  - Rebuilding a RAID 1 Array After Disk Failure
  - Rebuilding a RAID 5 Array After Disk Failure
- Where to Go for More Help
- Summary

Chapter 10: FreeBSD and Command Line Tools
- Introduction to FreeBSD
  - Your First FreeBSD Commands
    - Print the Working Directory with pwd
    - Directory Listings (ls)
    - Change Directory with cd
    - Copy a File and Change Its Permissions (cp and chmod)
  - Connecting to FreeBSD Using Putty
  - Monitoring your FreeNAS Server from the Command Line
    - See Which Disks are Mounted with mount
    - Check Disk Space Usage with df
    - Discover the Size of Directories Using du
    - Process Monitoring Using ps and top
- Advanced FreeBSD Commands for FreeNAS
  - Starting and Stopping Services
    - Getting Drastic with kill and killall
  - RAID Command Line Tools
    - Warning
    - List and Status Commands
    - JBOD and gconcat
    - RAID 0 and gstripe
    - RAID 1 and gmirror
    - RAID 5 and graid5
- Where the FreeNAS Stores Things
- Miscellaneous & Sundries
  - Using ping and arp from the Command Line
  - Creating Directories and Deleting Things
  - Editing Files Using nano
  - Shutting Down Using the Command Line
- Summary

Index

Gary Sims

Gary Sims is a freelance Linux/FreeBSD consultant and writer from the UK and has been working with open-source software since the mid 1990s. He first saw Linux while completing his degree in Business Information Systems at Portsmouth University. Then while working for Digital Equipment Corp he came in to contact with DEC's Ultrix and later Digital UNIX (formerly OSF/1). While developing enterprise software for DEC on its UNIX platforms he became more and convinced of the benefits of open source and open-source Unix-like operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD. After leaving DEC he became a software contractor and after moving to Romania in 2003 he became a freelance Linux/FreeBSD consultant and writer and started publishing articles for the Open Source Technology Group (owners of Linux.com and SourceForge.net). This then led to him writing his first book with Packt.

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Sample chapters

You can view our sample chapters and prefaces of this title on PacktLib or download sample chapters in PDF format.

Find your book in our support section to find errata and to download code samples.

What you will learn from this book

Understand the concepts of Network Attached Storage (NAS) and where FreeNAS server fits into your business.
Install, configure, and upgrade the FreeNAS server.
Deploy your NAS following best practices to plan capacity, hardware, backup, redundancy, and network infrastructure.
Deploy FreeNAS as a file sharing, backup, streaming server by using different protocols like CIFS, NFS, FTP, RSYNC, Unison, AFP, and UPnP.
Use FreeNAS as a bridge to Storage Area Networks by using SCSI.
Connect to the FreeNAS server from Windows, OS X, Linux, or UPnP devices.
Carry out common administrative tasks: add and authenticate users, rebooting and shutting down, network management, and configure FreeNAS to use DNS.
Improve fault tolerance and drive performance by creating RAID sets.
Explore backup optionsâ€”create copies of data on a remote server or another hard drive within the FreeNAS server.
Carry out advanced system configuration: encrypt discs, add swap space, S.M.A.R.T, and SSH access.
Troubleshoot your FreeNAS server when faced with networking problems or RAID failures.
Carry out basic FreeBSD administration tasks.

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In Detail

FreeNAS is free software that turns a PC into a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server. It supports client connections from Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. It has a web interface for administration and includes support for RAID (0, 1, 5), iSCSI, drive encryption, and UPnP. Based on FreeBSD, it has modest system requirements but is scalable for the enterprise.

This book will show you how to work with FreeNAS and set it up for your needs. You will learn how to configure and administer a FreeNAS server in a variety of networking scenarios. You will also learn how to plan and implement RAID on the server as well as how to use Storage Area Network technologies like iSCSI. The standard FreeNAS documentation walks you through the basic configuration, but this book will tell you exactly what you should do to plan, work, and deploy FreeNAS. This book has a comprehensive troubleshooting section that will point you in the right direction whenever you need help.

This book is a comprehensive guide to building and using resilient network-attached storage solutions for your business using FreeNAS. Written in an accessible style and filled with facts you need to know, this book will show you how to get things done the right way.

Approach

This book has been written from the system administrator's perspective, tackling the topics that will be most important to help you understand FreeNAS, and get it set up as securely and quickly as possible. You will just see how to get the job done.

Who this book is for

This book is for systems administrators who want a low cost, simple way to provide large amounts of network-attached storage. It does not assume knowledge of BSD, and will work for people using FreeNAS in any network environment.