UI demo site for testing

[Jason Fayre]

Hello,
This may sound like a bit of an odd request.
I am blind and use screen reading software. I'd like to try out my software with the FreeNAS web UI so I can see if it is accessible. Is there a demo site somewhere with a UI that I could play around with?
My other option is install FreeNAS into a VM just to work with the UI.
I'm building a Freenas box, just wanted to take a look at the UI first before I use it in production. If the UI is completely unuseable to me, it might influence how I build my new system.
A friend told me that the UI used to be accessible, but might now be less so.
Thanks!

 

[depasseg]

I'm not aware of a demo site, but I have a VM appliance you can try.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/looking-for-a-vm-of-latest-freenas.28977/#post-191001

 

[Jason Fayre]

That's awesome! How much RAM does this VM require? As I mentioned, this is strictly for playing with the UI, not for anything remotely approaching production.

 

[depasseg]

I configured it for 8GB. If you are only testing out the UI, you might be able to get away with 4GB.

 

[Jason Fayre]

Ok, I'll try that. The test system I have only has 8gb of ram. I assume the vm will pre-allocate all that memory? Meaning I can't very well have an 8gb vm on a system with only 8gb?

 

[depasseg]

The VM won't allocate it all, it will only use what it needs up to 8GB. Your OS will then start swapping to disk. If you don't have much else running on your PC, then you might be ok, otherwise, try reducing the VM RAM to 6 or 4. Nothing will break, it might crash the VM though.

 

[flatterlight]

Hi,
for Testing the GUI, a VM with 2 GB should be enougth.
Flatterlight

 

[cyberjock]

Hi,
for Testing the GUI, a VM with 2 GB should be enougth.
Flatterlight

LOL. Riiiight.

 

[Jason Fayre]

I got the vm running yesterday. Although not exactly compliant with accessibility standards, the UI actually works fairly well with a screen reader.
Where is the best way to report issues or request enhancements? If FreeNAS 10 is going to have a UI refresh, I'd love if the devs would consider accessibility to comply with regulations like section 508.

 

[depasseg]

Running on 2GB with 1.2GB free. Should be good enough to test the UI.

As for bug reporting, there is link at the top of the forums page: https://bugs.freenas.org/projects/freenas

 

[cyberjock]

That doesn't mean it will work properly. I've seen people that installed FreeNAS, and with 6GB of RAM they couldn't even create a zpool.

 

[depasseg]

I didn't say it would work. Although I was able to create a whopping 12 drive RAIDZ2 (10GB each).

And just in case anyone is reading this, do NOT plan to use less than 8GB. This is only to test the UI. The risk of crashes is huge.

 

[cyberjock]

Well, what would you define as "test the UI"? I'd take it to mean it provide basic functionality.. correctly.

If you can't even create a pool, there is definitely no "testing" going to go on. ;)

 

[depasseg]

Basic configuration functionality, yes.

Basic operational functionality, no.

I was able to create a pool and a couple shares with 2GB. But I didn't try connecting to the shares and putting any load on it.