When did FreeNAS become a media server?

[solarisguy]

I am perplexed at PCWorld clumsiness! When they covered FreeNAS in 2012, the version was 8.2... (I read it before Easter 2013.)

People who do not understand why FreeNAS is such an excellent choice :D for a media server are probably those who do not have movie / tv / personal digital anything but music collections. They acquire new music, listen to it, then acquire newer music and discard the old one. I cannot imagine a family home video / photo collection without FreeNAS. I cannot imagine that I would need to spend, again, hundreds of hours to copy movies and shows from DVDs to FreeNAS. And with Blu-Rays copying is even more time consuming. That is why we have FreeNAS servers.

P.S. My personal collection has a very small overlap with the Netflix offer and is being built by purchases from many (>3) Amazon stores (as in different countries) and other quality web merchants.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I hate compact disks. I can't wait until they completely go away. In the mean time, I have a FreeNAS box to do my part.

 

[josecuervo]

I wanted a 4 disk Synology but those are like $800. I can build a FreeNAS for ~$250

 

[Mlovelace]

Seems like freeNAS is being used as a media server more and more because of all the plugins to support it. If PMS/sick beard/couch potato... ect, had to be installed by the user through CLI it probably wouldn't be as poppular with that crowd.

 

[Ericloewe]

I wanted a 4 disk Synology but those are like $800. I can build a FreeNAS for ~$250

No, you can't. Not without preexisting hardware and/or cutting corners.

 

[josecuervo]

No, you can't. Not without preexisting hardware and/or cutting corners.

Yeah I already had the hard drives. My cost out the door for a TS140 and some extra RAM was only $280.55

 

[Ericloewe]

Yeah I already had the hard drives. My cost out the door for a TS140 and some extra RAM was only $280.55

You mean that Lenovo server is less than 300 bucks? Crazy...

 

[josecuervo]

You mean that Lenovo server is less than 300 bucks? Crazy...

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/cheapest-way-to-build-a-freenas.26903/

amazon.com/gp/product/B00F6EK9J2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(won't let me link?)

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Seems like freeNAS is being used as a media server more and more because of all the plugins to support it. If PMS/sick beard/couch potato... ect, had to be installed by the user through CLI it probably wouldn't be as poppular with that crowd.

If this was the case, I would run a windows 7/windows server in a separate box to run these other goodies. I would run the FreeNAS box in conjunction to handle all my storage needs. However, the mainstream probably wouldn't do this.

 

[Mlovelace]

What really triggered my "Hold it. I don't like where this is going..." reflex was the guy who showed up asking about 15 simultaneous 1080p Plex transcodes (15!).

That same poster has a channel 1 memmory error and no clue how to trouble shoot a server let alone basic CLI commands.

 

[Ericloewe]

That same poster has a channel 1 memmory error and no clue how to trouble shoot a server let alone basic CLI commands.

It was the same guy? Some stories get too complicated to follow without paying attention.

 

[Mlovelace]

It was the same guy? Some stories get too complicated to follow without paying attention.

Agreed, there's a lot of noise on these forums.

 

[Bobbyg387]

I was directed to this method through various recommendations on the web. A lot of people suggested that this as one of the best interfaces to tie the different programs together. Me being the total noob that I am when it comes to servers and computers in general, I didn't know any better and just moved forward.

I too bought the Lenovo ThinkSever for $280+/-. Seemed like a goo jump off point and this program as, well... free. I have never used a linux based software before, so it it was/is still a foreign language to me.

I have spent the past 4 days trying to get my system up and running. I even posted the job on elance to try and find someone to do it for me. Let me tell you, once I started getting offers and prices to do it, I decided to try a bit harder and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I came here to turn an old outdated desktop computer into a high performance file server.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

By the way, FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD. FreeBSD is not Linux.

 

[cyberjock]

I was directed to this method through various recommendations on the web. A lot of people suggested that this as one of the best interfaces to tie the different programs together. Me being the total noob that I am when it comes to servers and computers in general, I didn't know any better and just moved forward.

I too bought the Lenovo ThinkSever for $280+/-. Seemed like a goo jump off point and this program as, well... free. I have never used a linux based software before, so it it was/is still a foreign language to me.

I have spent the past 4 days trying to get my system up and running. I even posted the job on elance to try and find someone to do it for me. Let me tell you, once I started getting offers and prices to do it, I decided to try a bit harder and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

How much were people quoting?

 

[Bobbyg387]

I got prices anywhere from $100-$700 to setup FreeNAS with various plugins and to setup my VPN. $100 wasn't too bad, but the guy was from India and had questionable reviews for his work. Also, the idea of opening my network up to someone, over the internet, doesn't sound too thrilling.

 

[emk2203]

How much were people quoting?

What would you think it's worth? I am thinking about offering something like that, even complete with hardware setup / recommendations to make it foolproof.

Since I am in Germany, nobody would buy from iXSystems direct (customs / warranty / privacy / support issues), so I see a market here. People need a local guy they can call. As long as iXSystems doesn't open a branch here, there should be a need and a market.

 

[cyberjock]

What would you think it's worth? I am thinking about offering something like that, even complete with hardware setup / recommendations to make it foolproof.

Since I am in Germany, nobody would buy from iXSystems direct (customs / warranty / privacy / support issues), so I see a market here. People need a local guy they can call. As long as iXSystems doesn't open a branch here, there should be a need and a market.

I can tell you that we're not interested in your data, so privacy isn't a problem. I could also tell you that iXsystems provides support all over the world (including some companies in Germany), so support isn't a problem. But of course you don't know me personally, so I could be a secret NSA spy and I could be lying about iXsystems providing support. ;)

It is unfortunate that the US government has played this game and the IT industry worldwide has to suffer (FreeNAS and TrueNAS are great products). The harsh reality is that if you don't want to trust iXsystems for support you shouldn't be trusting our OS either. And if you are that paranoid you should probably get rid of any systems running Android, Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD because the majority of that code is from the US, and I have no doubt that some individuals that work on all of those OSes have "less than a clean history". So how much paranoia do you want to have today? ;)

Building and supporting a system are different than "I'll help you install FreeNAS and you're on your own after that"

^^^ times 1000.

I've helped people with initial setup, and that's all. I'd help them with a parts list for a good FreeNAS box that used recommended parts without being overly expensive. Separately I'd offer to help them with actual FreeNAS configuration. I'd do everything except work with jails (those are too easy for users to blow up and I don't want to be expected to fix it). I also guaranteed the configuration for 7 days after we completed it. Some people just wanted a parts list, some people just wanted actual initial setup. But those that wanted constant support weren't my target audience. It is considerable risk to promise future support for something the user can easily break and expect you to fix (sometimes at 10+ hours of your own time because they screwed up). I can guarantee you that none of those prices were for a long-term support contract.

When I did consultation I helped people build and do initial setup for about the middle of your price range, but that was as far as I'd go. I was not going to provide long-term support (I would do one-time support tickets on request, and those fees would be negotiated at that time).

 

[Bobbyg387]

@cyberjock Do you still offer assistance and configuration? I could use it right now...