FreeNAS as Music Server.

[J0HNY-242]

Hello,

I have heard a lot about FreeNAS lately and was wondering how to set it up for my home music server. I have the following laptop which I want to turn into local music server in my home:

Intel B815 1.68 Ghz
Intel HD Graphics GT1
4 GB DDR3 of RAM
500GB HDD

Now I have many questions about this because I just started with it. I have downloaded FreeNAS x64 but how do I set up music server ? I want to have music files on my laptop with FreeNAS on it and create one account for adding songs (admin account) and one account for multiple users (read only) which can use it to log into web interface and do the following things:

1) Listen to music without downloading it
2) Download MP3 file if they wan to.

P.S I don't care about backup because I already have one and I will only store songs on that server so I guess I don't need as much as 8GB of RAM do I ? Is the FreeNAS exposed to Internet by default ?, because I just want it to work only in my network, not outside of it.

P.S I'm very familiar with Linux but I'm new to the whole FreeNAS thing.
Any help, ideas or tutorials how I can setup something like this ?
Thank You.

 

[Gonzalo]

Hello,

If you want to use FreeNAS, you need to be aware of the minimum requirement. FreeNAS is not intended to be used on desktop computers. You should read the manual.

Regards.

 

[pirateghost]

How can FreeNAS expose itself to the internet if it is in your local network?

You are in control of your network...

 

[J0HNY-242]

How can FreeNAS expose itself to the internet if it is in your local network?

You are in control of your network...

I was asking myself the same question. If it's not exposed to the internet then why does it have access to it (download functions etc) ?

 

[DifferentStrokes]

Now I have many questions about this because I just started with it. I have downloaded FreeNAS x64 but how do I set up music server ? I want to have music files on my laptop with FreeNAS on it and create one account for adding songs (admin account) and one account for multiple users (read only) which can use it to log into web interface and do the following things:

1) Listen to music without downloading it
2) Download MP3 file if they wan to.

P.S I'm very familiar with Linux but I'm new to the whole FreeNAS thing.
Any help, ideas or tutorials how I can setup something like this ?
Thank You.

I'm not sure that FreeNAS is the best answer for what you are trying to do here. I had a laptop, with similar specs as your, that the screen went out on. I repurposed it as a Web/Music Server. I install Debian on it and installed FutureSonic. It offers what you are asking for without the need for expensive hardware. Users can have different permissions like the ability to download songs or not. There is a web frontend or apps for phones to stream the music to. It also can transcode on the fly if needed.

 

[pirateghost]

I was asking myself the same question. If it's not exposed to the internet then why does it have access to it (download functions etc) ?

Downloading updates and performing NTP requests doesn't really 'expose itself to the internet'.

The ability to go OUT to the internet is there by default but incoming requests are handled by you, and your network configuration for your LAN.

You could also limit the requests sent from FreeNAS via your router....

But NTP updates are kind of important for the server.

 

[J0HNY-242]

Downloading updates and performing NTP requests doesn't really 'expose itself to the internet'.

The ability to go OUT to the internet is there by default but incoming requests are handled by you, and your network configuration for your LAN.

You could also limit the requests sent from FreeNAS via your router....

But NTP updates are kind of important for the server.

Can I turned off that stupid NTP ? I have so many errors about not finding my host name which is due to synchronizing time on the FreeNAS server. I know I can provide Google Nameservers in General Network Settings but I don't trust Google either I don't care about that whole NTP thing.

By "ability to go OUT to the Internet" you mean Port Forwarding etc ?

 

[cyberjock]

You should give this up with regards to FreeNAS. Aside from the minimum requirements (which you don't meet and will have an unreliable box just because of that) you're going to have reliability problems just because of your choice of hardware. I've specifically mentioned in my noob guide not to use laptops... because they are a poor choice for so many reasons I don't even bother trying to explain anymore. There's literally no 'good option' for laptops and FreeNAS because of the hardware. It's not completely compatible with FreeBSD, it won't *ever* be compatible with FreeBSD, and it's almost always got proprietary junk that makes things never work right long-term no matter how hard you try or how much time you think you're going to put into this.

You know linux. If the hardware is capable of running linux then I'd strongly recommend you go that route and abandon FreeBSD/FreeNAS completely. You won't learn anything from this exercise (except perhaps the perceived notion that FreeNAS is a broken and screwed up OS when everything you do throws errors, has compatibility problems, etc.). Stick to Linux or whatever other OS you like to use that is compatible with the hardware and when you want to learn about FreeNAS or actually use it for real, spend some time to become familiar with what hardware you need, what hardware works, and what doesn't. It sucks when your first experience is going to be complete crap because of the hardware you can't control.

I'm not a wizard with Linux. I use it on my desktop as a dual boot configuration and I like it. I run some services in a VM on ESXi and despite being all about the FreeNAS/FreeBSD here I actually run my main services in a linux VM. Use the right tool for the right job. For you that is almost certainly linux (or at least that's what I would do).

 

[pirateghost]

Can I turned off that stupid NTP ? I have so many errors about not finding my host name which is due to synchronizing time on the FreeNAS server. I know I can provide Google Nameservers in General Network Settings but I don't trust Google either I don't care about that whole NTP thing.

By "ability to go OUT to the Internet" you mean Port Forwarding etc ?

Me thinks you don't fully understand basic network topology...

 

[gpsguy]

Setup a NTP server on your own network. In 9.3, it's "NTP Servers → Add NTP Server". Hopefully you allow it to get it's time from an external source on the Internet.

If your still paranoid, perhaps you might want to build your own NTP server using a Garmin (hockey puck) GPS to get accurate time.

 

[Ericloewe]

Setup a NTP server on your own network. In 9.3, it's "NTP Servers → Add NTP Server". Hopefully you allow it to get it's time from an external source on the Internet.

If your still paranoid, perhaps you might want to build your own NTP server using a Garmin (hockey puck) GPS to get accurate time.

Gotta try adding a GPS receiver to my pfSense box. After I fix it (stupid thing seems brain-dead after a power outage earlier today - despite what I assume was a clean shutdown, given the UPS and NUT)...

 

[cyberjock]

My pfsense box already has the NTP server (and client) working for me. The client connects to the world servers for date/time, then NTP server provides said date/time for my desktops and such. That's how I got my silly Cisco IP phone to display a date and time. :)

So for those of you using pfsense, no extra hardware required. Just use the features already included in the OS. :)