Convert Plugin to Standard Jail?

[Kevin Horton]

I'm hoping to learn the differences between a plugin jail and a standard jail. I'm wondering if I start with a plugin, and decide I want to install some additional services in the same jail, can I convert the plugin jail to a standard jail?

I note that a plugin jail has a .plugins/ directory at its root, and that the jailtypes differ in the jail's *.meta directory in the jail root. Are these the only things that differentiate a plugin jail from a regular jail? Could I delete the plugin's .plugins directory and change the jailtype file, would my ex-plugin now be seen as a standard jail?

Or, should I just add extra services to the plugin, and leave it as a plugin jail? Of course I'd have to ignore any requests to update the plugin.

 

[DrKK]

I really think the correct way to proceed, since EVERY plugin that is offered on FreeNAS is nothing more than software already in the FreeBSD ports tree, is to simply start with a regular jail. Install in that jail Plex, or sabnzbd or whatever plugin you were using before, and then add your additional stuff to that jail.

If you have a taste to hack your own jail up, then don't use the plugins in the first place. That's my advice.

 

[Kevin Horton]

I really think the correct way to proceed, since EVERY plugin that is offered on FreeNAS is nothing more than software already in the FreeBSD ports tree, is to simply start with a regular jail. Install in that jail Plex, or sabnzbd or whatever plugin you were using before, and then add your additional stuff to that jail.

If you have a taste to hack your own jail up, then don't use the plugins in the first place. That's my advice.

That is certainly my perspective as well. In this case, it was my first attempt at setting up a jail, to run Plex. I couldn't get it working (I forget what the exact issue was), and decided to try the plugin, planning to study how it was set up to see if it shed any light on my issue.

The plugin worked perfectly, but an unrelated crisis required me to stop messing with FreeNAS for a few days, so I never did compare plugin to jail to learn why my Plex jail wasn't happy. Now I'm pondering adding sonarr, and any other programs that would fiddle with the multimedia files, to the same jail, as it seems wasteful to use a separate jail for every service.

 

[DrKK]

Among the possible things to install in a jail yourself, Plex is surely easier than average. If you know your way around a *nix command line, you should be able to handle installation of a package or two in a jail of your choice.

I run two jails these days, the first of which runs all of the following:

• murmur
• znc
• unbound (DNS)
• web server
• irc server for testing
• dynamic DNS client (inadyn-mt)

It's not even *CLOSE* to being too much for one jail.

 

[joeschmuck]

The main difference between a plugin and jail is the plugin is an easy prepacked solution and can be accessed via the GUI. The jail will not have the same GUI interface but is customizable. I like both but do play around a lot with jails. You do need to learn how to install packages but that isn't very difficult. As you have noticed, sometimes things are not so straight forward and when you run into a problem, it can be difficult to figure out why it's not working. I think the only problem with a FreeNAS jail is it's not truly a FreeBSD jail, unless they fixed that. When FreeNAS 10 comes out you will have a much better system called bHyve (probably got that spelled wrong). I've placed a hold on all my jail work until that time arrives but we are looking at many months down the road.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

installing software from ports/pkg to a plugin or standard works exactly the same.

 

[joeschmuck]

I am still under the impression that the FreeNAS jail is not the same as a FreeBSD jail, that FreeNAS was a slimmed down version of FreeBSD.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I am still under the impression that the FreeNAS jail is not the same as a FreeBSD jail, that FreeNAS was a slimmed down version of FreeBSD.

not sure what you mean, what can a freebsd jail do differently?

 

[joeschmuck]

It's been a while but I thought there were certain built in features of a FreeBSD jail that were not included in the FreeNAS jail, well more importantly FreeNAS in it's entirety. I can't think of specifics right now but I'll try to look up those postings from a while back (a few years). I'm not saying that most packages cannot be installed but I recall having problems with some packages because iXsystems did not include all the features. At least that is where the blame went. I am old so maybe that is ancient history. I'll look for the postings and see if they still apply.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

It's been a while but I thought there were certain built in features of a FreeBSD jail that were not included in the FreeNAS jail, well more importantly FreeNAS in it's entirety. I can't think of specifics right now but I'll try to look up those postings from a while back (a few years). I'm not saying that most packages cannot be installed but I recall having problems with some packages because iXsystems did not include all the features. At least that is where the blame went. I am old so maybe that is ancient history. I'll look for the postings and see if they still apply.

I think you are referring to the freenas OS, not the jail, which as far as I know is a standard freebsd userland.

 

[joeschmuck]

You could be right.

 

[Kevin Horton]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll make a snapshot of my Plex plugin jail, then start adding other services to it.

 

[joeschmuck]

That is one way to do it.