Nas4free interface:
Clean intuitive interface with info displayed in a understandable format.
(software version, OS version, hardware used, CPU temperatures, memory usage)
Even without using it before the average nas user going to be able to do what he wants in under a hour.
Freenas:
Freenas present interface in the latest 9.10 is a bit of a disaster with tabs down the side and top .Needed info can be found but you need to go digging for it and figure out which menu lets you get there. Its not the most intuitive interface and lacks info like temperature and so on.
Setting up storage:
Both make this fairly easy but freenas is more intuitive when you figure out how to get there. But truth be told this caries little between the two and users of either shall have no problem setting storage up on the either.
Setting up users:
Nas4free makes this about as dead simple as you can get and if you can't figure this out you should stop now.
Freenas overloads users with an already-populated list of every existing user on the system—not just ones you create in FreeNAS, but all the system and service accounts as well. This can be quite overwhelming for new users until they figure out to just ignore whats there and make their own. A sub tab for advanced users would probably have made a lot of sense here.
Share setup: (smb/nfs )
NAs4free again is a simple straightforward method that anyone can pick up.
Freenas once you figure out which tab to click on is also straightforward with a neater interface vs nas4free simple but informative one.
Snapshots:
Nas4free snapshot system works but its frankly outdated and lacks options.
Freenas wins this one hands down as you can select any time/date and it sorts your snaps shots according to date/time.
Replication:
Nas4free unfortunately requires you to do this yourself.
Freenas does work (now) although in previous version it was a disaster creating problems up the you know what.
Active domain joining:
Nas4free makes this simple and fairly straightforward
Freenas falls victim to is messy interface with tabs going down both sides. the big services tab at the top doesn't take you to the correct place and you need to use the tabs on the side. The interface is just plain horrible in this regard.
Diagnostic:
Nas4free gives you much of what you need when you log in and if more in-depth info is needed it can be found under the diagnostic tab at the top. There is for the most part no fancy graphics here just plain old text but its easy to understand and to the point.
Freenas on the other had has lots of cool looking graphics but lacks some basic info in important areas. You can't see stats on plugins/jails so you wont know if something running slow or hogging cpu cycles. You can see the cpu at a 100% but it wont be able to tell you why its at a 100%. Also basic things like hard drive temps are missing. Too much bling not enough detail in this case.
Plugins/jails.
Nas4free err plugins?!!
Freenas owns the day here with a working plugin /jail system that makes it easy (i use that word loosely) to install plugin system. the jails offer security against these plugins doing bad stuff to your system. the bad is again the interface being all over the place with making where to go a confusing mess.
Conclusion:
Nas4free does what it does with a intuitive interface and for the most part is simple to use for most anyone. ZFS replication seem to be missing or darn well hidden and though simple it is kind of ugly lol
Freenas has jails/plugins which is a big thing these days for many plus it has a working ZFS replication system (thankgod). The downside is its interface is a convoluted mess which has you digging for into and trying to figure out where to go.
Freenas 10:
Aims to overhaul the plugin system and add a new cleaner updated interface. Hopefully this addresses the lack of info in the diagnostic system and missing info on installed hardware like temperatures which can warn you when a fan or the like has failed. For a a system admin such info can be the difference between a dead fan or fried hardware.
Thoughts ..opinions... fav beers?
Clean intuitive interface with info displayed in a understandable format.
(software version, OS version, hardware used, CPU temperatures, memory usage)
Even without using it before the average nas user going to be able to do what he wants in under a hour.
Freenas:
Freenas present interface in the latest 9.10 is a bit of a disaster with tabs down the side and top .Needed info can be found but you need to go digging for it and figure out which menu lets you get there. Its not the most intuitive interface and lacks info like temperature and so on.
Setting up storage:
Both make this fairly easy but freenas is more intuitive when you figure out how to get there. But truth be told this caries little between the two and users of either shall have no problem setting storage up on the either.
Setting up users:
Nas4free makes this about as dead simple as you can get and if you can't figure this out you should stop now.
Freenas overloads users with an already-populated list of every existing user on the system—not just ones you create in FreeNAS, but all the system and service accounts as well. This can be quite overwhelming for new users until they figure out to just ignore whats there and make their own. A sub tab for advanced users would probably have made a lot of sense here.
Share setup: (smb/nfs )
NAs4free again is a simple straightforward method that anyone can pick up.
Freenas once you figure out which tab to click on is also straightforward with a neater interface vs nas4free simple but informative one.
Snapshots:
Nas4free snapshot system works but its frankly outdated and lacks options.
Freenas wins this one hands down as you can select any time/date and it sorts your snaps shots according to date/time.
Replication:
Nas4free unfortunately requires you to do this yourself.
Freenas does work (now) although in previous version it was a disaster creating problems up the you know what.
Active domain joining:
Nas4free makes this simple and fairly straightforward
Freenas falls victim to is messy interface with tabs going down both sides. the big services tab at the top doesn't take you to the correct place and you need to use the tabs on the side. The interface is just plain horrible in this regard.
Diagnostic:
Nas4free gives you much of what you need when you log in and if more in-depth info is needed it can be found under the diagnostic tab at the top. There is for the most part no fancy graphics here just plain old text but its easy to understand and to the point.
Freenas on the other had has lots of cool looking graphics but lacks some basic info in important areas. You can't see stats on plugins/jails so you wont know if something running slow or hogging cpu cycles. You can see the cpu at a 100% but it wont be able to tell you why its at a 100%. Also basic things like hard drive temps are missing. Too much bling not enough detail in this case.
Plugins/jails.
Nas4free err plugins?!!
Freenas owns the day here with a working plugin /jail system that makes it easy (i use that word loosely) to install plugin system. the jails offer security against these plugins doing bad stuff to your system. the bad is again the interface being all over the place with making where to go a confusing mess.
Conclusion:
Nas4free does what it does with a intuitive interface and for the most part is simple to use for most anyone. ZFS replication seem to be missing or darn well hidden and though simple it is kind of ugly lol
Freenas has jails/plugins which is a big thing these days for many plus it has a working ZFS replication system (thankgod). The downside is its interface is a convoluted mess which has you digging for into and trying to figure out where to go.
Freenas 10:
Aims to overhaul the plugin system and add a new cleaner updated interface. Hopefully this addresses the lack of info in the diagnostic system and missing info on installed hardware like temperatures which can warn you when a fan or the like has failed. For a a system admin such info can be the difference between a dead fan or fried hardware.
Thoughts ..opinions... fav beers?
