Willing to help create an install cookbook for noobs wanting home server

[DataJunkie]

I've been browsing through the forums and documentation and there is lots of great technical material that covers all of the details of the various options, but for me it was way too confusing to try to learn about everything. I just wanted a "cookbook" to tell me do this, do that, don't even bother looking at that.

I have experience creating documents like this for non-technical people so I want to help as I think there are more people out there like me and I want to give back to the community for the great work that has been done on this project. But I need some help from someone or a group of people that know what they are doing.

End result will be PDF and a presentation that is specific for the following scenario (yes I'm being biased here because this is me):

* Semi-technical user wanting to setup a home network for their family to store an iPhoto library, an iTunes library, run Time Machine. Close to replicating Apple's Airport Time Capsule. But then provide optional sections on the things that make it soo much better, we can add these later and build separate docs for each. Create separate public share that guests on your network can access the files you want to share. Run a torrent client. Access select files outside of your network. etc. etc.
* Focused on setup for an older computer running minimum requirements
* Multiple drives (potentially different sizes)

 

[dlavigne]

But I need some help from someone or a group of people that know what they are doing.

What do you need help with?

 

[DataJunkie]

Suggested settings and technical advice. I can start by creating an outline with questions along the way.

Also need a location to collaborate, I don't think a Forum is the best place to build something like this, would prefer a wiki or Google docs. Maybe could create a separate location for those willing to help and then share results back here at different stages?

 

[dlavigne]

You can create a page at doc.freenas.org. DM me if you are unable to create a new page to get started.

 

[cyberjock]

Um, this was considered in the past. The problem is that there's a ton of ifs and buts. You can't really cookbook this as every server has slightly different settings. You are basically forced to "understand" much of the underlying technology or you'll have a really nasty experience with FreeNAS (aka data loss when you don't expect it, poor performance, etc).

Cookbooking this would, in my opinion, be callous and very likely a waste of money.

 

[DataJunkie]

Hey cyberjock, I do agree that there's lots of different paths that can be taken. That's what confused me the most when I first started and as I read existing documentation. However, I think a cookbook could be made for a common scenario with very specific requirements. If your requirements don't match what the cookbook is for, then it probably won't work for you. But there still may be things you could learn from the cookbook.

That's why I like the term cookbook, you can follow the recipe to make a brilliant soufflé using all of the suggested ingredients and steps or you can improvise and either make something else equally brilliant or a poisonous disgusting mess.

 

[cyberjock]

Ok, so what would you define as a "common scenario". Because I can tell you that every person here views things slightly different and *always* want to do things just slighty different. So unless you plan to have a guide for all of those, you're guide is going to be a mess with people asking questions you won't want to answer.

And don't take this as a personal attack, but writing a guide as a noob isn't easy. Give yourself 6 months to use FreeNAS and put it through the ropes.... then you can look at writing a guide. I'm willing to bet if you look at posts around here you'll find all sorts of different combinations of things in just 5 minutes of searching. There is no 'common' because FreeNAS is much to feature packed to have a "common" setup.

 

[cyberjock]

Keep this in mind.. a cookbook doesn't teach you how to cook. It says "mix this stuff together to get a pie". If you are going to start breaking it down you aren't doing a cookbook. You're writing a tutorial on how to put together your own system. Suddenly you went from a very narrow topic to something akin to writing a book. Oh, and since each release changes things and you'll want to do regular updates to keep it accurate, that means more time managing it later. That's one reason why my presentation is not a guide like you are asking. It's just too much of an undertaking to put together all of this info in a book vice dumping some of the core info of do's and don't and let the user figure it out.

As bad as this sounds its true... the dumber you let the user be with FreeNAS the more likely they are to make a grave mistake and lose their data because of their misunderstanding of the technology.

 

[Shane_pcs]

DataJunkie,

I would say go for it, but expect to get alot of opposition from these forums. Alot of people here assume that if you cant afford to spend a ton of money to do it perfect you shouldn't do it at all. There are tons of people who started with minimum specs and had nothing but great experiences with it. I would say add a disclaimer pointing to the ideal scenario to cover your butt, but there's no harm in getting people started with lower hardware. Most people just want a box to store some stuff and retrieve it from somewhere else, they aren't looking for military grade storage.

 

[DataJunkie]

Thanks both cyberjock and Shane_pcs.

Cyberjock, I trust your experience with this and believe you are right that there will be lots of questions like, "Can I do this with an 8 year old laptop?", "I want to use my old external USB drives instead", "Can I use SCSI drives?". But my response is "not part of this recipe". The first cookbook will be for a 2-5 year old desktop PC with two identical disk eSATA drives with 8GB of RAM. With these ingredients we are going to make a simple home server for sharing files amongst 1-5 family members who all use a Mac with a recent version of OSX.

Keeping it focused, simple, and brief. Maybe 50-80% of the people reading it won't have the same hardware or same goals and it won't be for them, but I'm hoping it will help some people get their foot in the door and spark an interest to learn more.

The other side is the expert opinions, I'm sure we will find some differences. This doc may not be prescribing "best" it will be prescribing "easiest reasonable solution".

Last point, updates, you are right. It will be for a specific versions and screenshots will expire with each new version. Again, hopefully keeping it simple and brief will help this aspect as well.

Let's give it a shot, it may be a failure as you predict, but I'm willing to spend a bit of time on this to see. I do hope you retain some interest in this, it would be very helpful to get some of your help.

 

[joeschmuck]

DataJunkie,

I would say go for it, but expect to get alot of opposition from these forums. Alot of people here assume that if you cant afford to spend a ton of money to do it perfect you shouldn't do it at all. There are tons of people who started with minimum specs and had nothing but great experiences with it. I would say add a disclaimer pointing to the ideal scenario to cover your butt, but there's no harm in getting people started with lower hardware. Most people just want a box to store some stuff and retrieve it from somewhere else, they aren't looking for military grade storage.

I don't agree that a lot of people will oppose this, I think it's a great idea. There is truth in the fact that there is a significant cost involved, most of it in the price of the hard drives so when you start comparing prebuilt systems to a home built system, it's not that far apart unless you buy high end parts.

You will need to temper the documentation by saying it only applies to specific software or any other limitations which could pop up.

In general the hardware is an easy thing to pick out and you could break it up into sections like:

Hardware: "Basic Backups", "Media Streamer", "Small Business (1-20 people)", "Small Business (1-100 people)", "Speed Demon".
Uses: "Basic Backups", Media Streamer", "Small Business Active Directory", etc...

I think the difficult part will be writing up how to configure certain features. A lot of features are very easy to configure however something like Active Directory just gives me nightmares. Maybe the initial configuration isn't that back but I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Hardware selection, those items while you will not be able to list a lot of complete systems (some proven examples would be a nice touch), you would list minimum CPU specs and other hardware specs to meet the desired goal for the usage expected.

However you develop and write this "cookbook", I think it will help you and any noob who reads it. It will probably help me as well depending on how far you go with this. Just keep in mind that if you are going to discuss configuration of the software, you need to stick with one version to create the document. Once you have it written, then you could add some appendices to cover changes within newer versions, or create an entire new document with only the new changes, that would keep confusion to a minimum for a new user.

If you need help, I should be able to offer up a bit. I had already started on my own FreeNAS configuration guide a few months ago but due to work and family life, I haven't had time to work on it much.

 

[cyberjock]

Cyberjock, I trust your experience with this and believe you are right that there will be lots of questions like, "Can I do this with an 8 year old laptop?", "I want to use my old external USB drives instead", "Can I use SCSI drives?". But my response is "not part of this recipe". The first cookbook will be for a 2-5 year old desktop PC with two identical disk eSATA drives with 8GB of RAM. With these ingredients we are going to make a simple home server for sharing files amongst 1-5 family members who all use a Mac with a recent version of OSX.

And here's an example of why your simple example failed.

So you have an old desktop. What kind of chipset does it have? Is it AMD or Intel? Is your NIC Realtek, Intel, etc. What SATA controller does it have? Does it even support AHCI mode? I can go on and on for *just* the motherboard, CPU and RAM. We aren't even into the ZFS side of things, permissions, or even the remainder hardware. So where you say "keep it focused, simple, and brief" there is no simple or brief unless you plan to sell a cookie cutter type system that has all those variables pre-determined.

We've tried to do this by providing the lowest priced components that you can expect to work without unreasonable risks, but everyone decides they are too expensive.

The other side is the expert opinions, I'm sure we will find some differences. This doc may not be prescribing "best" it will be prescribing "easiest reasonable solution".

And here's where the forums often bump heads with people. They often want to build it for the absolute cheapest cost and actually believe they are doing themselves the greater good. The reality is that there's a verfiable and quantifable increase in the chances of losing your data if you go that route. But you don't see those risks when buying from newegg or resuing old components. Now will your guide be "for the greater good" if 50% of users end up losing their data? I'd argue "no".

And some people have argued this in the past... if you don't put all the info out there and they fail they blame YOU for their data loss. "You ignorant SOB" is standard comments when people trust youtube videos that didn't touch on every aspect of FreeNAS and broke many of our cardinal rules. If you search "youtube" on this forum you'll probably find several people that trusted those 'guides' and lost their data for blindly trusting it.

Like I said though, while I may discourage it, it's your choice. If you do it expect people to be upset with you if they lose their data. As I used to say in a previous life "if the pros won't do it the novices probably shouldn't be trying either".

Good luck to you in either case.