Wanting to use an interim solution before FreeNAS 0.8

[james-mac]

Hi,

I've been using FreeNAS 0.7 (FreeBSD 7.1 based NAS software) for a while but recently transitioned the NAS over to OpenSolaris 2009.06 for updated ZFS... There has been some changes over at FreeNAS that mean they will be implementing FreeBS 8.0 for their next version which is great news!

The NAS is working OK running OpenSolaris, but there are a few things that are a bit futzzzy - if these things are better in FreeBSD 8, I'd probably move over to that as the interim step before FreeNAS 0.8. I've looked around for answers to these questions and don't have the time to install and find out... I'm hoping someone can give me some quick answers. Does FreeBSD 8...

- Power off the PC successfully from a shutdown (OpenSolaris doesn't!)?
- Have Netatalk pre-installed or available as a package?
- Have a UI to manage CIFS/SAMBA?
- Have a UI to manage AFP/Netatalk?
- Have a UI to manage ZFS - like the mythic-but-never-seen OpenSolaris ZFS GUI?
- Have a Remote Desktop for remote management?

THANKS!!!

James

 

[hedwards]

I'd check Freshports.org most of the things you're asking for are listed in some form there. I'm not able to tell about the netatalk gui and as far as I know there isn't a ZFS GUI at present, however most ZFS operations are simple enough that you don't really need a GUI for that.

The powering off on it's own is definitely possible without add on software assuming that the computer supports it.

 

[SirDice]

- Power off the PC successfully from a shutdown (OpenSolaris doesn't!)?

That depends on your hardware, most does, some don't.

- Have Netatalk pre-installed or available as a package?

No and yes.

- Have a UI to manage CIFS/SAMBA?

SWAT is part of samba but you will have to build the port. It's not enabled by default.

- Have a UI to manage AFP/Netatalk?

No.

- Have a UI to manage ZFS - like the mythic-but-never-seen OpenSolaris ZFS GUI?

No.

- Have a Remote Desktop for remote management?

Ssh and/or vnc.

 

[twilight]

There has been some changes over at FreeNAS that mean they will be implementing FreeBS 8.0 for their next version which is great news!

As far as I know they implement the next version of FreeNAS (0.8) on top of a debian linux and not on top of FreeBSD anymore!

see sourceforge for more detail:

 

[lme@]

Nope, there will be a new Debian-based version but FreeBSD FreeNAS will not die. iXSystems will continue to develop it.

 

[cwall64]

I will say that netatalk 2.0.05,1 on FreeBSD 8.0 p2 is presenting me with lots of issues getting it running. I have Gentoo and openSuSE 11.2 servers configured to server afp shares and timemachine shares fine (as well as FreeNAS 7.1), but FreeBSD is not working with the same configurations...

 

[SirDice]

I've never been happy with AFP. For one the Mac clients seem to drop all sorts of files everywhere. It's making a mess of things.

Currently I just use Samba to share to my windows and Mac clients.

 

[gkontos]

I run opensolaris a few months ago for my file server but I was disappointed by the performance and the CIFS bugs.
I moved everything to a full ZFS FreeBSD 8 release and after some tuning everything works like a charm.
No gui for ZFS but cli
Swat also works but I never seemed to like it. Cli again.
Samba and no AFP, my Macbook plays better with samba. Even time machine!

Regards,

George

 

[paean]

I've never been happy with AFP. For one the Mac clients seem to drop all sorts of files everywhere. It's making a mess of things.

Currently I just use Samba to share to my windows and Mac clients.

A bit messy, I agree. On the positive side AFP has noticeably faster transfer speeds. Some may prefer not to migrate their backups via TimeMachine to an SMB alternative.

I look forward to FreeNAS 0.8!

 

[cwall64]

I will say that netatalk 2.0.05,1 on FreeBSD 8.0 p2 is presenting me with lots of issues getting it running. I have Gentoo and openSuSE 11.2 servers configured to server afp shares and timemachine shares fine (as well as FreeNAS 7.1), but FreeBSD is not working with the same configurations...

Well, this was my error! Now it is running fine in a vm. Testing out gvinum RAID 5 in vm, before moving over to real machine with 4x2TB drives tired of running out of space, seems I just was using 4x1TB drives!). I plan on a full FreeBSD install to replace the FreeNAS box.

 

[cwall64]

A bit messy, I agree. On the positive side AFP has noticeably faster transfer speeds. Some may prefer not to migrate their backups via TimeMachine to an SMB alternative.

I look forward to FreeNAS 0.8!

I would have to agree that there is a noticeable transfer speed difference between SMB and AFP. Plus the TimeMachine support in netatalk 2.0.5 is slick. My family all have mac laptops, and the kids never backed up when I gave them external drives to use, but now they don't even notice it, no one can complain about loosing all of their pictures! And it all is on RAID 5 system.

 

[james-mac]

Thanks guys,

After going round and around a bit, I ended up back with FreeNAS 0.7. It turns out that the performance issues I was having was due to a silently failing hard drive. Once I had all the hardware stable, things came into line very well. SAMBA is a bit slow, so I use AFP and it works like a charm. One of their developers - not IXSystems - is working on a FreeBSD 7.2 STABLE - aka ZFS 13 - version. It's un-official but I'm going to upgrade to it this weekend.

All in all, FreeNAS has proved to be the best, easiest to configure, fully functioned piece of NAS software out there... and it's free!!! For those of you who are not interested in building ports, learning how to configure stuff and generally can't be bothered, give it a go!

James