Hello FreeNAS users,
In case you haven’t heard the big news, FreeNAS 9.3-BETA was released earlier this week. We’ll let Jordan Hubbard, Director of the FreeNAS Project, explain more about it in his new State of the Union address:
Cheers,
The FreeNAS Team
FreeNAS 9.3-BETA is Now Out
We know you’ve all been eagerly anticipating this. Some of the major changes in the FreeNAS 9.3-BETA include:
- New configuration setup wizard available during and after installation.
- New update manager makes it easier to apply patches and updates.
- Interface tabs removed completely.
- FreeNAS now uses ZFS for the boot device—this allows selection and mirroring of one or more boot devices for greater reliability.
- The features of ZFS are also utilized to provide cloned “boot environments” which allow the system to be rolled back (or even forked) to different OS versions.
- The boot process now uses the GRUB boot loader which supports multiple boot environments and makes it easy to recover from a failed upgrade, system patch, or configuration.
- A boot-time menu is provided for selecting and booting from a specific boot environment.
- New boot UI allows the user to create, rename, delete, and select boot environments as well as run diagnostics on the boot pool.
- And much more…
We have a quick video summary of some of the changes in FreeNAS 9.3. For the full list of changes or more details about a feature, check out the release notes. We highly encourage the FreeNAS community to try out the beta and give us feedback so we can make the release even better. For our brave betatesters, we
are committed to making sure that you’ll be able to upgrade seamlessly to FreeNAS 9.3-RELEASE once it is available.
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The Ultimate Guide to Buying a New Server for Open Source
If you are in the market to purchase new servers or will need to in the future, then download this free server guide. The knowledge you gain from this guide will ensure you avoid common pitfalls including:
- Inaccurate and/or over-inflated quotes
- Being sold the wrong hardware for your project
- Poorly built servers
- Missed deadlines
- The frustrations of outsourced tech support
Install OwnCloud on FreeNAS From Scratch
DrKK, one of our more prominent forum members, created a video tutorial for installing OwnCloud on FreeNAS. As he points out in the corresponding forum thread, there are multiple ways to install OwnCloud on FreeNAS including the ownCloud plugin. His tutorial is
focused on installing Owncloud in a FreeNAS jail from scratch using lighttpd. This method gives people a bit more control over the configuration and the tutorial itself is designed to be educational. If you want to refine your BSD skills and learn, give the video a watch.
Mid-Range FreeNAS Build Pt II: Performance Tuning
In the previous newsletter, we featured a high-performance, mid-range FreeNAS build sent in from one of our readers. Brian Cunnie wrote a follow-up article about performance tuning the system for iSCSI. The post describes in detail the steps he took to benchmark the build and how he ran the
tests. It includes screenshots and charts of his results. For people looking to do something similar, this is definitely worth a read.
MeetBSD California 2014
A big thanks to everyone that came out to this year’s MeetBSD California. If you missed it, you can view photos of day 1 and day 2 on our Facebook page. We’re still in the process of editing the speaker videos and those will be
posted soon. Keep a lookout for them on the iXsystems YouTube channel. In the meantime, the slides for the talks are available online—check them out!
FreeNAS Training Classes
Have a burning question about FreeNAS? We now offer free Intro to FreeNAS classes that run every day. Classes are taught by Linda Kateley, a software educator with over 20 years of experience and a specialization in ZFS and Storage. For those of you interested in learning more than the basics, you’ll be happy to know that we also offer paid, advanced FreeNAS classes in the following
subjects:
- FreeNAS Admin
- FreeNAS Sharing Deep Dive
- FreeNAS Hardware Architecture & Performance Basics
- Fault Analysis Workshop
As of now, we offer a complimentary registration with every new purchase of a FreeNAS certified system. This free registration is good for any advanced class of your choice. The classes are fully interactive, so attendance is limited to 15 people per class, allowing for thorough Q&A with the instructor. Make sure to sign up
early—with over 6 million FreeNAS downloads, we expect these spots to fill up fast.
Upcoming Live Events
We’ll be at the following conferences. If you’re in the area, drop by and say “hi”!
November 17-20 – SuperComputing 2014 in New Orleans, LA
February 19-22 – SCaLE 13x in Los Angeles, CA
Tech Tip #11
FreeNAS 9.3 will allow you to boot from an old version of the operating system if you make a critical mistake configuring FreeNAS and don’t have time to troubleshoot.
Links of the Month
Episode 63: A Man’s man via BSD Now
How Open Source Saved an External HD via Plagtech Blog
AsiaBSDCon Call for Papers via AsiaBSDCon 2015
FreeNAS Box ECC memory upgrade via Tech Uploaded
Join the FreeNAS Team!
If you’ve been reading about all the great things we’ve been up to and thought to yourself, “Hmm, I wish I could be a part of that”, well…now you can be!
iXsystems, the company that sponsors FreeNAS, is looking for a few good developers and QA testers to join our team. We offer competitive salaries, health benefits, stock options, a 401k, and access to a fancy-schmancy coffee maker as some of the benefits. We’re a very prominent
company in the world of FreeBSD; in fact, we employ more FreeBSD developers per capita than anyone else you can think of.
Interested? The full job descriptions can be found here. If this sounds like your cup of double-shot espresso, email Jordan Hubbard at jkh@ixsystems.com with your resume. Cover letters appreciated but not required.
Send Us Your Content
Got a FreeNAS hardware build you’re proud of? Come up with a tech tip while tinkering around in the GUI? Have a link or picture you think we should see? As long as it’s not something you wouldn’t send to your boss, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at FNsubmissions@ixsystems.com. We’re always on the lookout for FreeNAS and storage related content to feature in the newsletter and on our social
media channels.
Connect with Us
If you need help with your FreeNAS setup or would like to show off your configuration, share your plugins, or just talk with like-minded people, join the conversation on our community forums. For video tutorials, check out our YouTube channel.
Want real-time updates as they happen? Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us to your Google+ circle!
