how to permanently install software in a jail

[ldfilip]

Hello all,

I have recently installed Freenas 11.2 U7 on a computer I plan to use as a server. One of the things I want to run is transmission and I wanted to make it so it runs through a vpn. My thinking was as follows: start a transmission jail and install openvpn in the jail and set it there. Here is where I ran into problems:

First I had to enable external repos in the jail because I couldn't find any packages. When modifying the FreeBSD.conf file I felt the need to install nano first because vi can suck a lemon (vim is cool!). No here is where it happened. I installed nano, all went well, except that after I restarted the jail nano was gone.

Is this a normal behaviour? If yes, then how to I install software in a jail and make it so that it is permanent?

I tried the documentation but I couldn't find a section for this problem and to ba honest I find it a little overwhelming for a beginner like me.

Thanks

 

[SweetAndLow]

No clue what you are doing but it's wrong. To install applications in a jail you don't have to change anything. Just pkg install <your package>

 

[ldfilip]

Ok, let me recap what I did. I installed freenas, then from the webpage I went to plugins and installed transmission. Then I went to Jails and from there to Shell. In the transmission shell I first tried pkg install nano (or any other package) and that didn't work (package not found was the error).

From the forums I read that for some reason the external repos are not accessed and I had to enable it in the FreeBSD.conf file (there was a no there and I had to switch it to yes). Then it worked. I installed nano and did a restart of the jail. Whent into the shell again and nano was gone. The FreeBSD.conf file was still modified as I did it so where did nano go?

Did I do something wrong? Other than the official documentation is there another good resource for learning how to use and configure jails?

 

[Fredda]

So you are talking about a plugin, not a jail.

Although technically a plugin is a jail, a plugin is not intended to be updated or changed from it's shell.
A plugin is usually a stripped down jail included only with the needs and packages for its purpose and
an update is done by updating the plugin itself.

If you need features not supported by the plugin you can always set up a jail (a real one) and install transmission there.

 

[ldfilip]

ah damn! that got me dizzy! ok so let me get this straight:

If I go and instrall a plugin I cannot add things to its jail. For that to happen I have to create a proper jail. I have two questions:
1) what is the difference between a "proper" jail and the plugin jail?
2) where will the "proper" jail appear in the dashboard? will it appear in the jails section?

Sorry if I am not very clear. Thank you for your help.

 

[Fredda]

Read the fine manual on jails and plugins.