Share type for target of replication task

[Agent92]

Might be a stupid question but I just want to make sure. When using replication tasks I'm guessing the destination data set should be the same as the source? So if I have a dataset using SMB I should create another dataset using SMB on the destination server and setup a replication task between them?

 

[DrewN]

are you replicating to another FreeNAS server?

 

[Agent92]

Yes

 

[DrewN]

FreeNAS should do all of that work for you. Create a dataset on the destination machine and select that in the wizard. The destination dataset you create, you can select share type as SMB, so it uses case insensitivity. You don’t have to set up an SMB share on the destination machine that points at the dataset, if you aren’t accessing the destination replicated dataset directly. FreeNAS sends the replication over ssh, so you don’t need to have any shares set up on the destination server.

 

[Agent92]

Thanks but not what I asked. My question was focused on when you create the dataset on the destination you have to choose share type. You have to do this even if you don't create a share later. So the question is, does the share type have to be SMB on the destination if the source dataset uses share type SMB?

 

[DrewN]

If you’re not going to point a share at the destination dataset it shouldn’t matter, as this can be changed later.

when you select smb during dataset setup it will default the dataset to case insensitivity and set ACL permissions. If you select generic, you can still assign ACL permissions later.

I believe those settings will be changes based upon the advanced options you set in replication. In replication you can choose to make the destination dataset accept the settings of the source, or adopt the settings of the destination.

It really shouldn’t matter, if you are just replicating for a backup, as opposed to replicating to access the replicated data on the destination.

For consistency’s sake I would suggest selecting SMB. This way there is less configuration later, if you want to access the dataset as an SMB share. Conversely, if you might want to access the destination dataset as an NFS share, then you might consider leaving it as generic.

 

[Agent92]

You can't change the share type after creating the dataset, at least not in the GUI. My thinking is that if I have a SMB dataset that I copy to a generic dataset I will lose all the extended permissions that Windows needs. Even if I could change the share type later on the destination that still wouldn't fix the extended permissions on the already copied files. So in case I need to restore those permissions would be lost unless I use the SMB share type on the destination from the beginning.