We Want to Hear Your Ideas

[Michael Christsen]

I like the look and feel of the current pfSense Web UI. The Dashboard can be customized. The real time graphs for network, connections, system stats, etc are helpful.
The current FreeNAS Beta UI has promise, but needs refinement. The old UI is simple, but lacks some important info (like S.M.A.R.T. data as someone said).
I think the HP Storageworks P2000 Web UI is clear, concise and has a lot of static and dynamic information. The MSA 2052 UI is a little fresher.


M
So I would like to see a better UI with good management.

Old versus New UI

I tried the new Beta UI for a week, but went back to the old UI.

I understand you have to change the architecture of the UI to ensure long-term maintainability, but the actual UI design is a big step backwards.

.......

 

[bigphil]

Feature: Ability to run a periodic snapshot task on-demand from the Periodic Snapshot Tasks menu...like a "Run Now" button when you highlight a task. This way naming convention and keep time are all maintained and won't be messed up by a standalone snapshot.

Doc bug: I'm still on 9.10.2-U5 and in the documentation for this version, as well as the docs for 11.1-U2, it stats: "When the OK button is clicked, a snapshot is taken and the task will be repeated according to your settings." This isn't true, at least for my version. I haven't tested on 11.1, but I'd guess it's also not true. A snapshot is not taken when I click OK. I've confirmed with "zfs list -t snapshot" and no snapshot is listed after task creation. If somebody would like to confirm with 11.1, I'll file a bug report to update the docs.

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

The ability to exclude a sub-dataset from a snapshot schedule when set recursive at the parent level.

 

[Nick2253]

Feature: Ability to run a periodic snapshot task on-demand from the Periodic Snapshot Tasks menu...like a "Run Now" button when you highlight a task. This way naming convention and keep time are all maintained and won't be messed up by a standalone snapshot.

Yes, yes!

Any periodic task should be able to be run on-demand. This includes init and shutdown scripts and SMART tests.

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

I'd like to be able to NOT expose snapshots via windows previous versions when snapshotting and sharing but currently if I snapshot I am forced to expose this to the end user.

 

[majerus]

I'd like to be able to NOT expose snapshots via windows previous versions when snapshotting and sharing but currently if I snapshot I am forced to expose this to the end user.

Disable this from the client with Group Policy?

 

[marian78]

Fewer personal data in FN debug log or, maybe, button for choosing debug type for personal useing or public useing.

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

Disable this from the client with Group Policy?

Thanks but a lot of the machines are unmanaged. It should be a simple don’t show in FreeNAS I think.

 

[bigphil]

I'd like to be able to NOT expose snapshots via windows previous versions when snapshotting and sharing but currently if I snapshot I am forced to expose this to the end user.

They still show if you don't link the periodic snapshot task to your Windows SMB share? That hasn't been my experience. If the SMB share doesn't have the snapshot task linked, it wont show in previous versions. This is also covered in the docs. You need to reboot or restart the SMB service after you make a change. If they still show, then you can edit your smb4.conf file (/usr/local/etc/smb4.conf) and under your share, remove all "shadow:..." lines and also remove the "shadow_copy2" vfs object and then reboot or restart the SMB service.

 

[Johnny Fartpants]

They still show if you don't link the periodic snapshot task to your Windows SMB share? That hasn't been my experience. If the SMB share doesn't have the snapshot task linked, it won't show in previous versions. This is also covered in the docs. You need to reboot or restart the SMB service after you make a change. If they still show, then you can edit your smb4.conf file (/usr/local/etc/smb4.conf) and under your share, remove all "shadow:..." lines and also remove the "shadow_copy2" vfs object and then reboot or restart the SMB service.

It seems if you have already created a snapshot schedule on its parent and have recurssive checked when you create a new child it auto inherits and can’t be unset. Like I said it would be nice to have a simple check box that says don’t show snaps.

 

[onyxfire]

I'd like to be able to NOT expose snapshots via windows previous versions when snapshotting and sharing but currently if I snapshot I am forced to expose this to the end user.

You actually don't have to... If you don't select a "periodic snapshot task" in the SMB share's options, it won't make it available to the client of the share. The field is not required. You can leave that unselected and it won't use one. See the attached screenshot.

 

[onyxfire]

It seems if you have already created a snapshot schedule on its parent and have recurssive checked when you create a new child it auto inherits and can’t be unset. Like I said it would be nice to have a simple check box that says don’t show snaps.

It isn't the snapshot schedule that exposes the previous versions option, it is the "periodic snapshot task" selected in the creation of the share itself that defines if previous versions are shown. See my previous reply. That being said, I agree it would be nice to be able to "opt-out" a sub-set of a list of recursively snapshot datasets

 

[Vazzer]

I'd really like to see the following in FreeNAS:

1. File Indexer that either has its own web ui or integrates into Windows Search (or both!) - I've been wanting this one for years and although there seem to be some projects out there that might do the job, I'd really just like it to be built into FreeNAS
   
2. More power saving features e.g. I think due to the way logging occurs, disks never spin down...
3. Be able to enable and disable all snapshot replication in one hit (since I don't keep my backup box on all the time and I think this would be easy to implement)
4. Mobile App, or mobile friendly UI
5. Ability to e.g. export reporting data as a CSV
6. Ability to report on duplicate data

Just my 2 cents worth. But I have to say, overall FreeNAS has been fantastic over the years. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

[majerus]

Might want to break them each into their own posts overall I think those are good ideas.

 

[Vazzer]

Apologies for not splitting out....thanks for the reminder. Will get to it!

 

[Vazzer]

Idea 1: File Indexer that either has it's own web ui or integrates into Windows Search, Spotlight etc - there seem to be some projects out there that might do the job, I'd really just like it to be built into FreeNAS so that it doesn't break through version upgrades

 

[Vazzer]

Idea 2: More power saving features - probably more useful / beneficial for home users but still something we should be shooting for e.g. Disk Spin Down, I think due to the way logging occurs, disks never actually spin down.

 

[Vazzer]

Idea 3: Be able to enable and disable all snapshot replication in one hit (since I don't keep my backup box on all the time and I think this would be easy to implement), or multi-select which datasets you wish to enable / disable quickly

 

[Vazzer]

Idea 4: Mobile App, or mobile-friendly UI

 

[Vazzer]

Idea 5: Ability to export reporting data straight from the UI e.g. as a CSV