Hello

[cs86]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and introducing myself. I've been reading about freenas and I'm interesting in the software. I have limited knowledge when it comes to networking. I enjoy building my own computers and need a centralized location for storing all my data that has good backup. I've been trying to read and learn all I can from this site for a freenas system, but I've been having troubles. I'm wondering if it's worth my time to try and learn how to build, setup, and manage a freenas system with my limited knowledge of networking?

 

[joeschmuck]

First of all, Welcome to FreeNAS forums!

In order to help out your delima let me ask you a few questions...
1) If a backup solution is all you are looking for, is slow network speeds acceptable?

If all you need is slow and reliable backup, for example you have a few computers on your network and you just need to backup your system and photos, etc... And speed is not an issue (~25MB/sec) then you could purchase a premade NAS device and add a pair or more of hard drives to create a mirror or RAID5 storage. This is not a bad option for many people.

2) If a backup solution is all you are looking for and you need to backup at maximum speed (almost full bandwidth of your network) then you can purchase a premade unit however here is where the rub comes in, a premade unit capable of full bandwidth transfers costs a lot of money.

This is where FreeNAS begins to shine and even a cheap FreeNAS system can generally hit full bandwidth of your network.

3) If you have plans to stream video content with a program like Plex then FreeNAS is for you as well.

Building a system is not difficult however the electronics are sensitive to ESD and can be damaged just by touching them so you need to take normal precautions to build up the computer. But of course you could just buy a computer such as the HP ML10 Gen 9 (cost is around $200) and then buy a 16GB stick of ECC RAM (sorry, not sure of that cost) and install it, and a display port adapter if you need one (another $20 or so), and you now have a computer capable of supporting FreeNAS.

Before you begin you absolutely must decide on how much storage you need and how important that data is to you. Once you know those two answers then we can help you select the correct size and quantity of hard drives you would need. One thing to know, you should use a RAID Calculator and then subtract 20% of that capacity to the overall maximum you can store while maintaining the fastest speed possible. Then you spend the real money on hard drives. These things are not cheap but no matter which way you go, you would need to purchase hard drives regardless.

After figuring out how much you need to store, you need to figure out if you are going to use some of the advanced features of FreeNAS. I highly recommend that you read the User Guide from cover to cover. It will clue you in on all these options.

If you want to run a VM then you have a lot to learn and that is fine, a lot of people are learning at this time, but it's not a perfect system yet.

As for your limited networking, well you don't need much. When you place FreeNAS on your network you can use DHCP and it will get an IP address like any other computer on your network, then you create some datasets and share them on your network. that is the easy way. You can be more complex if you want to use authentication such as Active Directory but I think most users stay away from that when it comes to a simple home network. Now I prefer using Static IP addresses but that's just me. When I type in 192,168.1.50 I know that is my FreeNAS.

Well I hope I didn't overwhelm you with a lot of typing here. Please take a firm look at FreeNAS and if you wanted to you could create a Virtual Machine of it on your computer and take it for a test spin.

 

[gpsguy]

You might want to read the docs cover to cover a couple of times. Highlight what you think might be important, skip over what you don't care about.

If reading a PDF is easier than the online HTML, you can download the former via a link in my signature.

 

[cs86]

Thank you for the responses. I will look more at the documents that you guys recommended.

I run a home business with the hopes to expand in the upcoming years. I use modeling software that runs off a work station and it can be set up to pull licenses from the server. This would be handy when I want to use a different computer so I don't have to transfer the license. I would like a centralized place that I can save my files and has incremental backups. I'd like the option to remote into the server with my laptop and pull files as needed or work directly with the server files so I don't have to replace updated files when I get back home. It would be nice to place all my camera pictures and videos on the server as a backup for the most part. I don't use plex or rip dvds to my computer so my main concern is files storage, security, and backup. Maybe I'd consider using plex or ripping dvds if I started playing with a NAS for storage and backup.

So I think I have the right needs to justify the use of a more sophisticated network. Building a computer seems fairly straight forward for me, and building a server doesn't look to complicated. But, setting it up is much more confusing. I'm willing to learn and I want to be able to run a basic small server.

I was wanting to play with the freeNAS software. I think I got it installed correctly on an old computer. I got the interface installed and it takes me to console setup. I can't seem to figure out how to get to the graphical freenas interface where I log in. I keep re-reading, but I must be overlooking something because I'm stuck.

 

[gpsguy]

Do you see an IP address at the bottom of the console setup menu, like in figure 3.1 on this page - http://doc.freenas.org/11/quick.html#

If you have a DHCP server on your network, it should grab an IP address. In a home setting, a "router" typically provides this function.

If you don't see an address, I'd start a new thread. You'll have more eyes looking at your message, than something posted in the introductions forum.

When you post your message, please post detailed hardware information, per for the forum rules at the top of the page. And, the version of FreeNAS that you're using. Don't say "the latest" - let us know the actual version. Note: if it's a Realtek NIC, it might not be supported. An inexpensinve Intel Pro/1000 CT (~$30 USD), will fix that issue.

I got the interface installed and it takes me to console setup. I can't seem to figure out how to get to the graphical freenas interface where I log in

 

[cs86]

I do have an IP address that I assume is linking back to the router. I entered the shell and typed /etc/netcli. It then said the web user interface is at the listed IP that was given. I then go to a computer that has internet access through my router, which is connected wireless, and then enter the link (IP) in the browser. I get "this site can not be reached" on the browser and below I get "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT". If you aren't sure what might be the issue I'll do a little reading and start a thread in another area with all my hardware and software.
Thanks!

 

[gpsguy]

Does the device that you used to try to connect to your FreeNAS server have an address on the same subnet as your FreeNAS server?

Can you, at least temporarily, connect a machine using a network cable to the same router/ethernet switch where the server is plugged into?

 

[cs86]

I made sure both machines were connected to the router. I logged into the router to see how it was set up and what the subnet was. I started off having troubles. They both seemed to have the same subnet and I thought I was in range of the IP addresses. Eventually I got an IP address to work and was able to link to it. Now that I've successfully logged into freenas I'll start looking around and playing. Thanks.

 

[gpsguy]

Glad to here you are finally able to get to the webGUI.