FreeNAS File Manager (please be patient!)

[rhdinah]

Just setting up my new FreeNAS 9.1.1 box and getting set up to move off the 7.x box once it is stable. I've searched through the forums for the QuiXplorer that was in 7.x and I realize that there is no such feature in 9.x. I found a bunch of hits in the forums and they are hit or miss for me. I don't mind CL, but honestly it can get old when you need something a little more up-to-date.

1) Is there a plan for an explorer ... or should I just forget that it will ever happen?
2) What would be the best way to get one? Do I need to set up a FreeBSD system and move the executables over to FreeNAS? I know about jails and why they're used.
3) Looking for easy here ... I'd rather not spend weeks rolling my own!

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

 

[pirateghost]

FreeNAS .7 was a completely different project. As such you will not find a file explorer.

The old .7 project was rolled into nas4free.

I would suggest if you need a file explorer, you learn how to use scp (winscp if on windows is good). Not exactly sure why you feel the need for a file explorer, as the point of a nas is to create a central repository of files for clients to connect to. You should manage files from the client.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[rhdinah]

Thank you for your reply. I am completely aware of the differences in the FreeNAS projects. I've been using FreeNAS for many, many years now. There are many uses for a NAS.

SCP does not appear to be a file explorer, but instead a transfer protocol ... similar to rsync. I need the explorer for the *exact* reasons I used it on .7 FreeNAS, but thanks for your answer. I'm still interested in looking for an acceptable file manager similar to mc used on FreeBSD or QuiXplorer on .7 FreeNAS. Thank you for any information pointing me that direction. :)

 

[jkh]

Why not use something like this: http://sourceforge.net/projects/davenport/

Then you can simply SMB export your files to the web client.

 

[pirateghost]

Thank you for your reply. I am completely aware of the differences in the FreeNAS projects. I've been using FreeNAS for many, many years now. There are many uses for a NAS.

SCP does not appear to be a file explorer, but instead a transfer protocol ... similar to rsync. I need the explorer for the *exact* reasons I used it on .7 FreeNAS, but thanks for your answer. I'm still interested in looking for an acceptable file manager similar to mc used on FreeBSD or QuiXplorer on .7 FreeNAS. Thank you for any information pointing me that direction. :)

You haven't yet stated what exactly you need it for. If you were to enlighten us on that *exact* reason you used it on .7, perhaps someone could help you with an alternative....

 

[rhdinah]

Hi there ... I use my FreeNAS server to store a major amount of video and audio production files. While there are several users, they are all read-only. I manage the files myself ... move them ... rename them ... add too them ... remove them ... set permissions ... and the like. I also administer owners and groups. Of course that can be done by the command line ... but is ugly and slow. I think I will try to create a jail and install midnight commander from the FreeBSD ports and see if that works. Don't exactly know how to do this, but I'm sure it is not rocket science. I also have 8TB of files on NTFS drives that I need to put on my new server ... so I need to connect those drives up and get the data loaded. I've tried to do this and have not succeeded so far with issues that were never there with .7. Don't want to do that across CIFS shares as it is too slow and error prone ... even though I've the data redundant and have checksums for everything. This all worked very well for me with .7 ... I've some growing pains with this release of FreeNAS ... and if it gets too much then I'm going back to something that I know works ... .7. Thanks for your help and ideas!

p.s. Off the subject ... but ... I was going to move from Ubuntu to PC-BSD to make FreeNAS more transparent, but I found their staff very rude and not pro-active ... so I'm staying with Ubuntu ... which works, is fast ... and everything I want and need ... including midnight commander!

 

[pirateghost]

I will refer back to my comment about SCP. You CAN do exactly those things with it. It is not JUST a file transfer protocol when used in conjunction with a proper client. Same with FTP, you can adjust permissions and move files around in a proper client (filezilla seems to work fine for that).

You keep referring back to .7 ("have not succeeded so far with issues that were never there with .7"" This all worked very well for me with .7"). This FreeNAS project is not related to .7 at all. As I mentioned, .7 moved on to become NAS4Free, and they still have that feature in it. If you 'REALLY' need that feature, you should have a look at that project, but I will ask you to reconsider your workflows and think about sticking with FreeNAS, as I feel it is still the superior product. I simply would not just 'stick with .7' if its some little feature like that you crave.

There are alternatives, as I mentioned, FTP and SCP (GUI Clients) will allow you to do all of those things without a command line. Jails are pretty easy to work with, and will allow you to configure just about any BSD software you like to use in there.

 

[anika200]

the command line ... but is ugly and slow.

That cracked me up for a couple of minutes, thanks.

You do not need an "explorer", "file manager" on your FreeNAS if you are using it right. You will want to do file explorer things through a jail if you need too.

 

[jkh]

This all worked very well for me with .7]

If .7 worked so well for you, perhaps you should simply stick with it. This thread is certainly not accomplishing your goal to get a "File manager" into FreeNAS, and rather than pine so openly for the old days while darkly alluding to "problems that did not exist with .7", you should file some bug reports which contain enough details as to *how* these issues are manifesting themselves. That is the only way those issues are likely to be addressed since most folks don't just happen to have 8Tb of NTFS data lying around that they're trying (by means you also don't make clear) to "import."

FreeNAS is a community-driven project and only you can help to improve it by either contributing code to do the sorts of things you want it to do with it or, at the very least, filing detailed bug reports which would make it possible for a programmer to reproduce the problems you're having and hopefully fix them.

To quote your original post, the "easy" you're looking for does not exist. That leaves you with just 3 choices: 1. Stick with 0.7. 2. Roll your own solution. 3. Manage your files differently. There is no "4. Argue with people about how much better things were back in the .7 days" option. :)

 

[rhdinah]

Thank you pirateghost for your suggestion to relook at scp ...

 

[rhdinah]

Never could find any graphical or curses scp client ... hope pirateghost you weren't referring to WinSCP ... windows ... sorry ... ;-) B-U-T Filezilla is a perfect solution ... everything I need and access from my Ubuntu machine and I've used it quite often to another distant remote server ... just didn't ring a bell here until you mentioned it. Thank you again pirateghost ... data is loading on my new server at this very minute! And I didn't have to use any jails ... which gives me time now to investigate them in the future. Cheers!