Trying to get a NAS fixed - a bunch of questions

[toraride]

I have not worked with FreeNAS before, but I am quite alright in both command line and Python.

I have a FreeNAS, 9.2.0, release x64 where the old IT crew has stopped responding and helping managing the NAS, and the company is in dire need to get control of the NAS and have their questions answered about how it all works.

I have a bunch of questions and would appreciate someone can help me out to get started in how the whole thing is setup.

1) The company used to connect to the NAS and then browse the internet. This has stopped working, in terms of that websites and browsing is not working. I suspect some port to be blocked, or maybe it is a NAS security setting?

Skype for instance still works if connecting this way, but this seems to be more a router problem, and is another area where I do not have access to. My question about this is:

1a) If I unplug the NAS and hook it up to the other router they have in the office, are there things I need to keep in mind in terms of compatability of the NAS with the network? Are the NAS'es always setup to work with static IP's? Where can I modify, and what do I need to modify in order to just make sure it goes online regardless? I would like to be able to get away from the router that I cannot access, and thus have no chance to see what settings it has, and what devices are setup with static ip's on it.

1b) I have the root password, and I can ssh into the server as root. Is root treated as THE root, or can in the NAS setup be just yet another name called root, but without root permissions?

1c) The nameservers are set to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Does this have to be set? Cant the NAS grab the Nameserver from via the router?

1d) The default gateway (IPv4) is set to 192.168.9.1 When I go to this url it prompts me for a user/pass, and the root credentials that I have do not seem to work. Which is why I asked for if I have the "right" root

1e) The FreeNAS is browseable on 192.168.9.250, where everything seems to be working

In general, what do I need to read to make sure backup works and that the NAS setup is under my control and I can help out the company to get back on track? I would like to dig in and get things working properly and have everything documented for their environment.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Can you access the GUI? If you can do that then it's 'under control'. The Nas probably has a static IP that's why the nameservers are set to Google's.

What are you taking about when you say connect to the Nas and use the internet. This makes zero sense and you need to clarify.

Read the forums including the noob slideshow, setup smart tests, setup scrubs and make sure email notifications work. This is all done in the GUI and you will never manage the system from the cli, if you do you will break things.

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[toraride]

Yes, I can access the GUI via 192.168.9.250.

I would however need cli, as there are numerous python scripts that seems to have been setup for the purpose of remote backup, which are failing. It needs a good cleanout.

The company was connecting to the NAS via Ethernet, and the NAS was connected to the router, so I assume it functioned as their main access point to the internet. Doing so again, prevents them from browsing the internet.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Do you know how a network works? Everyone should be connected to a switch or router or wifi. This will let people access there internet and Nas. Do you have access to professional help? It seems like your in over your head a little bit. Nothing you can't learn just going to be a little steep.

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[toraride]

I am just telling you how they used to have the setup. I am not sure I would setup everything the same way.

My questions are the basics about the NAS above, I can take it from there, once I get my head around the general setup. I will check this out myself.

 

[SweetAndLow]

I highly doubt they had it setup where they connected to the nas as a gateway and then through the router. Anyone smart enough to figure that out would not do it that way, it doesn't make any sense.

 

[toraride]

I know, this makes no sense! I suspect the router the NAS is connected to, to be the main problem to most things.

The reason to why I asked about the nameservers and static ip is that I want to get this NAS fully going and separate myself from the router as first step, and I wondered if FreeNAS has certain configurations it must have applied.

And I am still not sure I have access to the main GUI. Guess the only way to find out is to install FreeNAS elsewhere and see how it behaves and get going from there.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Yes, I can access the GUI via 192.168.9.250.

And I am still not sure I have access to the main GUI.

huh? make up your mind. These types of comments are going to cause people to not help you. It will lead to stupid questions like does it say freenas at the top of the GUI? If it does then you can access the freenas system. The other IP you are trying to access is the gateway, why do you think that is freenas?

 

[toraride]

huh? make up your mind. These types of comments are going to cause people to not help you. It will lead to stupid questions like does it say freenas at the top of the GUI? If it does then you can access the freenas system. The other IP you are trying to access is the gateway, why do you think that is freenas?

http://192.168.9.250/ - The GUI, that is the NAS. It says FreeNAS in the top and there is a logo.

http://192.168.9.1 - The router itself, its GUI.

http://192.168.15.1 - Unknown GUI, as it prompts before I can see anything.

 

[Nick2253]

I'm going to be honest: it seems like you are really in over your head.

First off, you seem to lack the understanding about what services do what. For example, if you connect to your gateway IP (192.168.9.1), you have to have credentials for that gateway. Which has nothing to do with FreeNAS. So the fact you brought that up here (including the bit about the "right root") says to me that you do not understand how a network is set up, how services are compartmentalized, and what credentials you have.

Second, your explanation of "they connect to the NAS then browse the internet" doesn't make any sense. Can you explain in networking terms, or at least provide the layout? Is the NAS acting as a gateway? You also mentioned a second router. Usually, you're not going to have multiple routers on a network unless you have some decent complexity, and you aren't going to reach that level of complexity without having a decently sized IT staff. Are we really talking about a router, or are we talking about a switch?

Third, you are also going back on forth on GUI access, which I would assume to be a pretty trivial thing to figure out. You seem to be conflating FreeNAS with your gateway with some other random service that has nothing to do with this.

If you want to get a handle on this, you need to do the following:

• Figure out how the network is setup. What devices provide the gateway, routing, switches, DNS, DHCP? You may also have multiples VLANs. Documenting your network setup is absolutely critical for anything else.
  
• Figure out what servers and services you have on your network. What are their IP addresses, and what services do they provide? Preferably, you'll figure out admin credentials for all of them.
• Now, we can talk about FreeNAS, but not before you get your network in order.

 

[gpsguy]

You can download the docs for that version at - doc.freenas.org


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[toraride]

I'm going to be honest: it seems like you are really in over your head.

First off, you seem to lack the understanding about what services do what. For example, if you connect to your gateway IP (192.168.9.1), you have to have credentials for that gateway. Which has nothing to do with FreeNAS. So the fact you brought that up here (including the bit about the "right root") says to me that you do not understand how a network is set up, how services are compartmentalized, and what credentials you have.

Second, your explanation of "they connect to the NAS then browse the internet" doesn't make any sense. Can you explain in networking terms, or at least provide the layout? Is the NAS acting as a gateway? You also mentioned a second router. Usually, you're not going to have multiple routers on a network unless you have some decent complexity, and you aren't going to reach that level of complexity without having a decently sized IT staff. Are we really talking about a router, or are we talking about a switch?

Third, you are also going back on forth on GUI access, which I would assume to be a pretty trivial thing to figure out. You seem to be conflating FreeNAS with your gateway with some other random service that has nothing to do with this.

If you want to get a handle on this, you need to do the following:

• Figure out how the network is setup. What devices provide the gateway, routing, switches, DNS, DHCP? You may also have multiples VLANs. Documenting your network setup is absolutely critical for anything else.
  
• Figure out what servers and services you have on your network. What are their IP addresses, and what services do they provide? Preferably, you'll figure out admin credentials for all of them.
• Now, we can talk about FreeNAS, but not before you get your network in order.

To be honest, everything is left in shambles, nothing is documented, and if you ssh into the server, there are 50 python scripts running god knows what. I have seen shell scripts that are attempting to backup portions of the server to an ip address that is no longer active, and there are SSL certs spread across multiple files, used in some of the python files.

First of all, there are 2 routers, one hooked up to the NAS, the other hooked up to the rest of the network. When the staff wants to use the NAS, they switch routers.

The network is my main problem, I am aware of that, which is why I like a freshman asked for the basic requirements of the NAS, in terms of ip and nameservers, static or not. I will go through the documentation, then I can ask some better questions, I am aware this doesnt help me or you much, in the way I have put things.

The GUI confusion again comes from the fact I have not touched FreeNAS until 2 days ago. I would not know if there are 1 or multiple GUI's for the different access levels.

 

[Nick2253]

First of all, there are 2 routers, one hooked up to the NAS, the other hooked up to the rest of the network. When the staff wants to use the NAS, they switch routers.

This, again, doesn't really make any sense. What I'm hearing here is that FreeNAS is on its own network, which makes no sense; I mean, why have a NAS if you're going to sequester it away?

When you say router, are we really talking about a router? Do you mean "switch"? If we really are talking about a router, how is traffic routed between the two routers? How is everything hooked up?

I'll go back to my original point: you must come to an understanding of what your network is doing before you do anything else.

The GUI confusion again comes from the fact I have not touched FreeNAS until 2 days ago. I would not know if there are 1 or multiple GUI's for the different access levels.

But see, the problem is that you asked us to tell you that your gateway was not FreeNAS, and an other completely unrelated GUI was not your FreeNAS. Those facts should have been completely obvious.

 

[VladTepes]

So, did you manage to figure the network situation out?

 

[toraride]

Yes the network was really the big blocker to moving on with the NAS itself. I finally unplugged the conflicting devices, the dummy WiFi routers that just created dead networks and cleaned up in how connections were happening.

All done now and working on the next couple of issues within the NAS itself, the backup rules etc.